The post was originally published in Russian on Startup of the Day. Alexander kindly agreed to republish what we think is of great value to our readers.
Credit score is a very important indicator for every American. And everyone living in the USA bends over backwards to improve it.
Esusu, the American startup of the day, found a way to increase the score effortlessly. It sends the information about rent payments to the credit reference agency – it’s also an indicator of responsibility after all. The user pays as promised!
Interestingly, it’s a win-win, the information on overdue payments don’t reach the said agency. Yes, Esusu has to report everything it knows. But the tenant can apply for dropping out of the system in advance, – and then there is nothing to report anymore. Such behavior in view of coming payment problems is an official recommendation from the service. Their frankness is admirable.
Technically, the startup integrates with the landlord. For a tenement house owner, such task is easy and helps with competition: everything else being equal, the tenants will prefer to rent an apartment with Esusu over a neighboring option.
The startup brought in USD 130M of investment in this January’s round.
#fintech #usa #credits #megaround
Translation: Kostiantyn Tupikov
Alexander made his career in Russian internet companies including Mail.Ru, Rambler, RBC. From 2016 to 2018 he was Chief Strategy and Analytics officer in Mail.Ru Group. In this position, he worked on M&A, investments, and new project launches. In 2018 he became Deputy CEO in Citymobil, a Russian Uber-like company that was invested by Mail.Ru Group and Sberbank (the biggest Russian bank), then he left the company to launch his own projects. Now Alexander is a co-founder of United Investors – the platform for co-investments in Russian early-stage startups. His blog #startupoftheday (#стартапдня) is one of the most popular blogs about startups in Russia.
