Esusu rent closes $10 million Series A with investment from Serena Williams

Esusu, the American fintech startup has announced the completion of a $10 million Series A round, led by Motley Fool Ventures.

The startup which was co-founded by Nigerian, Abbey Wemimo, has now raised over $14 million in venture funding since its launch.

Read up: Esusu raises $2.3 million seed-extension to scale nationwide

Founded in 2018 by Wemimo and Samir Goel, Esusu helps families pay for rent and build credit. It does this by offering affordable rent to families who cannot pay rent and reporting their rental payments to credit bureaus like Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. This helps the families build credit and encourages on-time payments from them.

Since the completion of its seed extension, Esusu has grown by more than 900%; providing  credit services to over 2 million households in all 50 states in the US.

The company now works with 30% of the biggest landlords on the National Multifamily Housing Council. Some of its prominent partners include Goldman Sachs, , Winn Residential, Related Companies, Starwood Capital Group and Camden Property Trust.

In a release from Motley Fool Ventures—lead investors in the round, Ollen Douglas, Managing Director of the VC Firm spoke highly of Esusu as an excellent example of a startup leveraging technology to deliver scalable financial solutions to underserved communities. "Their inclusive credit building offerings can unlock access to credit for low-to-medium income households across the country," he added.

The round also saw an undisclosed commitment from US Tennis star, Serena Williams via her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures. Speaking on her investment in an interview with CNBC, Serena said "I started Serena Ventures to invest in diverse founders and early-stage companies that outperform and generate impact, while at the same time empowering others and creating opportunities. Esusu is definitely one of those companies. Esusu is really focused on credit building and creating pathways to financial inclusion not only for working families but for individuals as well."

Following its Series A round, Esusu is looking to expand to more than 5 million households within the next year. In a statement to CNBC, Wemimo said the startup was looking to "double down on growth through product innovation, top talent recruitment, and building the most comprehensive financial health platform in the market for low-to-medium-income families."

The startup will also use this recently completed round to improve its cybersecurity on its products.