Esusu, a renter credit‑building platform, now valued at $1.2 billion

Esusu, a fintech platform that helps renters build credit scores, has raised $50 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $1.2 billion.

Renters have long been excluded from the traditional credit system. In the United States, roughly $1.4 trillion in rent is paid each year, yet only about 20 percent of landlords report those payments to credit bureaus. This leaves millions of reliable tenants in the “credit‑invisible” segment.

“110 million people in America rent, and less than 10 percent of that data shows up on their credit score,” said Esusu co‑founder and CEO Wemimo Abbey in an interview on CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange. “When people pay rent, we make sure it shows up in their credit file.”

On‑time mortgage payments are a well‑known driver of credit‑score improvement, but many renters lack any credit history altogether. Esusu bridges that gap by reporting on‑time rent payments to the three major credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. More than 50 million Americans currently have no credit file with any of these agencies.

The company estimates that renters who have used its platform have accessed roughly $30 billion in mortgage financing to date, demonstrating the tangible financial upside of turning rent into tradable credit data.

“Esusu is fundamentally reshaping how the financial system can work for everyone,” said Sean Mendy, partner at Westbound Equity Partners and a lead investor in the round. “When people are given the tools to rise, they do.”

Esusu was listed at No. 49 on CNBC’s 2025 Disruptor 50 list.

Since its launch in 2016, Esusu has partnered with 65 percent of the nation’s largest commercial‑real‑estate owners and property‑management firms, as well as with major banks. Its platform now supports more than five million rental units, reaches roughly 12 million renters, and processes close to $100 billion in annual lease volume. Notable landlord partners include Bell Partners, BH Management, Blackstone, Cortland, Invitation Homes, Jonathan Rose Companies, Kayne Anderson, Morgan Properties, Nuveen Real Estate, Pretium, Related Companies, TruAmerica, and WinnCompanies.

With the fresh capital, Esusu will accelerate three core initiatives:

• Rent‑Reporting‑as‑a‑Service (RaaS): The company will expand the distribution of its rent‑reporting API, making it easier for property‑tech platforms, banks, and fintechs to embed credit‑building functionality directly into their workflows. This effort already extends Esusu’s reach to over 228 million monthly active users through its integration with Zillow.
• Esusu Pay (launch slated for 2026): A consumer‑facing product that lets renters split their monthly rent into instalments, providing greater cash‑flow flexibility while preserving the on‑time payment record that drives credit‑score gains.
• Embedding rental data in mortgage underwriting: Following the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s mandate to incorporate verified rental and identity data into mortgage applications, Esusu plans to deepen its partnerships with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Earlier this year the company acquired identity‑verification specialist Celeri to strengthen the data‑quality pipeline required for regulatory compliance.

Market context and strategic implications

The U.S. rental market continues to expand, with vacancy rates hovering near historic lows and rent growth outpacing wage inflation. This environment fuels demand for tools that can convert a tenant’s largest monthly expense into a credit‑building asset. By tapping into rent data, Esusu not only opens a new credit‑scoring frontier but also creates a recurring data‑as‑a‑service revenue stream that can be monetized across multiple financial ecosystems—including banks, mortgage lenders, and consumer‑credit platforms.

From a technology standpoint, Esusu’s API‑first architecture enables rapid integration with property‑management software (Yardi, MRI, Buildium) and consumer‑facing applications. Its cloud‑native stack leverages real‑time data validation, secure PII handling, and scalable micro‑services—all essential for meeting the stringent security and privacy standards demanded by both regulators and large‑scale enterprise partners.

Regulatory momentum is also on Esusu’s side. The FHFA’s recent guidance requiring verified rental payment data in mortgage underwriting aligns directly with Esusu’s core value proposition. As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac roll out pilot programs that accept rent‑payment data, the addressable market for Esusu’s verification and reporting services could expand from the current 12 million renters to upwards of 30 million within the next three years.

Competitors such as RentReporters, CreditMyRent, and newer blockchain‑based solutions are emerging, but Esusu’s early mover advantage, deep integration with major CRE owners, and a growing ecosystem of strategic partners give it a defensible moat. The company’s ability to cross‑sell ancillary products—like Esusu Pay and identity verification—further diversifies revenue and reduces reliance on a single data‑feed model.

Founders’ vision

Esusu’s co‑founders, Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel, grew up watching their immigrant families struggle to secure credit. Their personal experiences—being denied loans by major banks and forced to turn to predatory lenders—shaped the company’s mission to democratize credit access. “When we first arrived, we had no credit score. We were turned away by the biggest financial institutions and had to borrow at exorbitant rates,” Abbey recounted in a 2025 interview. “My mother even sold my dad’s wedding ring to help us get by.”

Today, Esusu aims to ensure that no American renter remains “credit‑invisible.” By turning rent payments into a reliable credit asset, the fintech is positioning itself at the nexus of housing, finance, and technology—an intersection that could reshape the credit landscape for a generation of renters.