Esusu, platform for renters to build credit, valued at $1.2 billion
Esusu, a fintech platform that helps renters build credit scores, raised $50 million in a Series C financing round at a $1.2 billion valuation.
Tenants were largely left out of the traditional credit system; An estimated $1.4 trillion is paid to landlords in the United States each year, but only 20% of these landlords choose to report rent paid. As a result, millions of reliable renters remain in a category called “credit invisibility.”
“110 million people rent in America… and less than 10% of that data shows up in their credit scores,” Esusu co-founder and CEO Wemimo Abbey said in an interview on CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” on Thursday. “When people pay rent, we make sure it reflects on their credit score,” he said.
Although on-time mortgage payments are known to improve a person’s credit score, most renters do not have any credit history. Esusu reports tenants’ term rent payments to credit bureaus so they can build their scores. More than 50 million Americans do not have a credit history with the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
The company says tenants using its system have already accessed $30 billion in mortgages.
“Esusu is fundamentally reshaping how the financial system can work for everyone,” Sean said.
Mendy, a partner at Westbound Equity Partners and one of the lead investors in the deal, said in a statement. “When people are given the tools to rise, they do.”
Esusu was ranked 49th on CNBC’s 2025 Disruptor 50 list.
Esusu partners with banks as well as 65% of the largest commercial real estate owners and property managers in the United States. Since its launch in 2016, the platform has grown to support more than five million rental units nationwide, reaching nearly 12 million tenants and processing approximately $100 billion in annual rental volume.
The fintech company plans to use the new funding to expand three startups. It will expand the distribution of its rent reporting API with what it calls “rent reporting as a service.” Esusu technology, which is among the latest partners of this initiative, now reaches 228 million monthly active users through its real estate platform. Zillow. The company also plans to launch Esusu Pay in 2026, which will allow tenants to split monthly rent into installments.
Esusu will also focus on the opportunity to make rental data a more prominent feature in mortgage insurance. The Federal Housing Finance Agency has formalized the inclusion of rental data in mortgage insurance, which requires verified rental and identification data. Esusu was purchased authentication firm Celeri earlier this year. Esusu already has partnerships with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase the number of units nationally reporting rent as part of the loan.
Esusu founders Abbey and Samir Goel grew up watching their families struggle financially as immigrants from Lagos, Nigeria, and New Delhi, India, respectively, and this was a founding motivation for Esusu. “When we came here, we had no credit score. We went to one of the largest financial institutions to get a loan; we were turned down and had to borrow from a predatory lender who wanted to lend money at over 400% interest rate,” Abbey told CNBC in an interview in June 2025. “My mother sold my father’s wedding ring. We borrowed money from church members and that’s how we started.”
