NewStats: 3,262,364 , 8,176,939 topics. Date: Monday, 02 June 2025 at 01:07 AM 55m2

Nigeria-Inspired Fintech Esusu Raises $2.3 Million in Seed Extension to Fuel Its Expansion to 1M Rental Units.

Millions of Americans have lost jobs and missed rent payments due to the pandemic, a striking reminder of the looming financial duress many households are under. On Wednesday, the digital savings app Esusu, which targets immigrant and minority groups, announced the close of a $2.3 million seed round, bringing its total financing to $4 million.

Cofounders Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel began fundraising in June and the latest round includes investors like Impact America Fund, Zeal Capital Partners, and Next Play Ventures, the latter of which is led by LinkedIn chairman and former CEO Jeff Weiner.

Founded in 2018, Esusu is a rotational savings and credit building app that allows s to pool and withdraw money for big-ticket transactions, such as a down-payment on a house. These purchases and the fulfillment of debt obligations are then reported to credit bureaus to help s establish or improve their credit profiles. The fintech company also doubles as a rental data reporting service by partnering with landlords, property managers, public housing authorities, and consumers to report tenants’ rent payment history, one of the most sizable and consistent payments for Americans.

“We’re trying to address the fact that millions of people have a thin credit score or no credit score at all, while the average debt is around $135,000,” says Abbey who made Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2019 along with cofounder Goel. “People are seeing the impact of what Esusu can do for their financial identity, which gives them a lot of leverage.”

The two launched a rent relief fund in April and have raised nearly half a million dollars through an initial crowdfunding campaign and later, from the nonprofit impact investment fund Acumen and The Global Good Fund.

Applicants are vetted based on greatest need and must pay back the interest-free loans within 12 months. “The pandemic’s disproportionately harmful impact on underserved communities has reinforced the importance of closing societal divides and ensuring that equal talent has equal access to opportunity,” says Weiner, founding partner at Next Play Ventures. “Esusu provides a foundational building block in making that a reality.”

More than 5,000 renters across the U.S. have applied for Esusu’s financial assistance and the fund has deployed about a quarter-million dollars. About 85% of applicants are Black, 7% are non-Black people of color and the remaining 6% are Caucasian, which Goel says is telling.

“People have succeeded economically in the U.S. through access to cheap debt, so the essential redress to that problem is helping Black folks get access to good credit so that they can get cheap loans and invest in homes and other products,” Goel says. “Social justice will take a lot of time but we can focus on economic justice and begin to help equalize wealth building.”

Esusu makes money from rent reporting by charging landlords $2 per unit each month. The value proposition for landlords is a 25% uptick in punctual rental payments and an amenity that they can use to lure new high-quality tenants or keep existing tenants who want to continue to build their credit.

Less than 1% of rental payments are reported to the major credit bureaus despite constituting the largest single monthly expenditure for American consumers and acting as a strong predictor of an individual’s credit risk.

“Our modus operandi centers on how we can help people achieve their financial best and we fundamentally believe that we can leverage our comprehensive tapestry of data to eliminate the racial wealth gap,” Abbey says.

Esusu currently operates in more than 30 states and covers over 200,000 rental units in cities like New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Houston and Portland. It plans to expand across all 50 states within the next year and projects $1 million in revenue by year-end. With its latest capital infusion, Esusu plans to add new hires to its 25-person team.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/2020/08/26/minority-owned-fintech-app-esusu-closes-23-million-seed-round-announces-plans-to-address-credit-inequality/amp/

This is a thread about him on Nairaland in 2013.

https://nairaland.unblockandhide.com/1169468/nigerian-student-part-obamas-inauguration

Slim101:
A University of Minnesota Crookston student will be part of President Obama's inauguration festivities on Monday.

Abbey Wemimo is senior at UMC and he's been invited to
Washington to volunteer in preparations for the ceremony.

Wemimo, who is an International Student from Lagos (lived in Maryland Housing Estate), Nigeria worked on Obama's presidential campaign. He recently submitted an application to be a part of Monday's event and was accepted. He says he has been
inspired by Barack Obama's achievements, and being at
the Inauguration is something he can tell his grandchildren about.

Abbey doesn't yet know what duties he will be performing for the swearing in but says he will be at Monday's speech.

Source: http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/16058/

Interesting

Kudos to him.
These are the real youths of Nigeria.

Okay

Nice

Hopefully they don't pack up and jappa one day with investor funds.

Best of luck to you guys

Smart people

That's a very good initiative.

And American is expecting another hurricane today.. The land of mystery

peaceandunityy:
[s][/s]

Your younger brother's mates are winning millions of dollars, you are on Nairaland cancelling posts.
20 years from now, you would be in Shiloh shouting "I receive". Receive what?

I hope your family don't have any expectations of you.

Nice one

Hope my social media and classified ads site

Attract such one day

Good to hear .please who wants to buy old fiverr s from 2014.

Nice

Dear God, i need your Grace

Nice one.
A thinking head taking native Naija idea to the world.
Kudos.

Good news?

OAUTemitayo:
Kudos to him.
These are the real youths of Nigeria.

You can say that again & again & again!!!

Meanwhile, have you noticed how the lazy youth have refused to patronize this thread because it's not BBN, or Bob Risky or Toto Dick or any of those rubbish Igbo/Yoruba fightings?

What a generation of unthinking youth whose goals are simply fast money with a "too much money" syndrome.

Haba fiful.

However, before 12pm today, you go see how much Igbo/Yoruba Warlords go don deviate the topic for Tribal Wars & spoil the essence of the topic for us.

Nice one, while you're productively using your time & brain to better your life. Your comrades back home are busy shouting APC & PDP, burning their datas ing expired & recycled politicians who's only interest in themselves & family.

This can only happen in a country where youths at given opportunity to showcasr their talent. Not here where the youth leader is a 60yr old bald headed greedy morafucka

HabaHaba:


You can say that again & again & again!!!

Meanwhile, have you noticed how the lazy youth have refused to patronize this thread because it's not BBN, or Bob Risky or Toto Dick or any of those rubbish Igbo/Yoruba fightings?

What a generation of unthinking youth whose goals are simply fast money with a "too much money" syndrome.

Haba fiful.

It is unfortunate. Youths are more interested in irrelevant stuffs

Noble concept but the worst is yet to come. This is going to be 2008 all over again and financial industry and housing will never be the smae again. They said history repeats itself twice, once as a tragedy and next as a comedy. Same mofos that refused to learn from 2008 have now found themselves in the same mess in 2020, esusu or no esusu, the worst is yet to come! Kudos to my African entrepreneurs, you can continue making money in any situation....This is the true African spirit!

Proud of you two.
Lord I see what you are doing for others, me too.

Nice

This topic is not expected to grace front page on nairaland.unblockandhide.com

I'm surprised to see important, youth capacity building news like this on nairaland.

This is a sai barber, religious and ethnic group bashing forum.