Deal Memo: Rentaba, "Credit Where Rent Is Due"
Rentaba is reworking the tenant-landlord relationship by bridging the rental market and modern financial technology.
As of May 2025, I have no financial relationship with any company named here. If that changes, I will update this note.
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Does it make sense that landlords determine a renter's credit worthiness based on a score that has nothing to do with their rental history?
Of course not.
This disconnect limits renters’ financial mobility and leaves housing providers without critical data to assess tenant reliability, perpetuating exclusion. This is especially relevant for young renters, university students, and renters who come from abroad.
Rentaba's product enables transparency in the tenant-landlord relationship by reporting rent payments toward tenant credit reports and by offering landlords advanced income-verification technology, so they do not need to rely so much on the existing credit reporting infrastructure.
Problem
The rental and credit ecosystem suffers from a fundamental disconnect that disadvantages both renters and housing providers while perpetuating financial exclusion.
Rent payments are entirely invisible to credit reporting agencies despite being the most consistent and substantial monthly obligations for over 45 million rental households in the United States.
For renters, particularly students, young professionals, and first-time renters, this invisibility creates barriers to financial mobility, and it’s an issue especially acute for international students who may lack access to traditional credit products (like a social security number, for example) or cosigners. Given that 60% of Americans rely on credit for everyday purchases, credit scores are increasingly essential for basic financial activities beyond just borrowing.
Housing providers face complementary challenges. Landlords lack access to comprehensive, portable rental history data, which makes tenant screening less effective, forcing landlords to rely on incomplete information when making leasing decisions.
The Rentaba Platform
The company’s core solution operates as a bridge between the rental market and credit reporting infrastructure, creating value for both sides of the rental transaction.
For renters, Rentaba transforms every on-time rent payment into a credit-building opportunity by reporting verified payments directly to major credit bureaus. This empowers renters - including students, young professionals, and those without traditional credit histories - to establish and grow their credit scores without taking on debt. Rentaba also provides renters with full transparency and control over their rental history, allowing them to verify, correct, and carry their records from lease to lease, offering renters an edge when applying for future housing, loans, or other credit products. According to Rentaba, university students enrolled in the Rentaba program see an average credit score increase of 43-65 points within the first six months.
And for those who are not citizens of the United States, like students from abroad, Rentaba offers a tremendous benefit: it helps people prove that they are credit-worthy without a social security number.
Landlords and property managers can report both positive and negative payment history to credit bureaus, creating accountability mechanisms that encourage on-time payments. The platform includes tenant screening capabilities using verified rental history data as well as connection to tenant payroll/banking platforms which enables more informed leasing decisions.
Rentaba offers renters financial mobility and recognition for responsible behavior, while also offering landlords reduced financial risk. The platform is designed to raise the standard for the rental industry, making it more transparent, equitable, and data-driven for all participants.
Trends Working in Rentaba’s Favor
- The number of renters in the United States is growing. Rental market dynamics strongly favor solutions like Rentaba’s platform. Rental households grew 1.9% in 2024, more than double the growth rate of owner-occupied homes. This trend reflects multiple underlying factors including housing affordability challenges, lifestyle preferences favoring rental flexibility, and demographic shifts among younger generations who are delaying homeownership. The rental household base now exceeds 45.3 million households, representing a massive addressable market.
- The renter demographic is more credit-conscious and more willing to use technology for financial services. This generation faces unique challenges in credit building due to limited traditional credit history, making alternative approaches like rent reporting particularly appealing. The growing international student population, which faces additional barriers to credit establishment, represents an underserved market segment where Rentaba’s inclusive approach provides significant competitive advantages.
- 70% of Americans say they’re willing to share more financial data if it leads to better-informed credit decisions or can improve access to credit products.
Competition
Rentaba’s rent-reporting competitors require landlords or tenants to submit paperwork or verify payments manually each month, which not only slows down the process but also introduces opportunities for mistakes, delays, and incomplete records. This lack of automation stands in stark contrast to Rentaba’s tech-forward, API-driven approach, which streamlines data collection and reporting for all parties involved.
Additionally, these competitors typically overlook the unique needs of student renters. Few offer solutions for student housing, leaving a significant segment underserved.
Another major shortcoming of most competitors is their exclusion of renters without Social Security numbers. Rentaba’s inclusion of no-SSN solutions ensures that even these renters can participate, build credit, and carry their verified rental history forward.
Simple Business Model
Rentaba operates a subscription-based business model that generates revenue from both renters and landlords.
For renters, Rentaba offers credit-building plans with options for monthly, semi-annual, or annual subscriptions.
For landlords and property managers, Rentaba provides usage-based tiers tailored to the size of the property portfolio, with pricing that scales according to the number of active leases managed. Landlords can select from monthly, semi-annual, or annual plans, each offering a suite of features such as automated rent reporting, tenant screening tools, and integrated debt recovery services.
Traction & Key Metrics
Per founder, “focus on things that drive active users and revenue (or - shameless plug - the things that I wrote are the real signs of traction in a startup). Thus far, this means onboarding eight universities (average enrollment around 5k students) and two major housing providers.
The Hustle Fund Deal Assessment Framework
- Team: What is the founder’s earned secret? CEO Ali Alqhtani brings a personal understanding of the rental credit gap. Ali has been a frequent mover over 13 years across multiple cities, and he has seen plenty of scenarios play out (including not being the name on the lease, for example), so he’s been exposed to the systemic failure in rental history recognition. He’s lived the pain point as a renter.
- Product: Is this a vitamin, or a pain killer? Rentaba is a painkiller for both renters and landlords - and the product integrates into the relationship between the two parties. Addresses the need to build credit without taking on debt, a necessity in a system where the majority of Americans rely on credit for daily expenses. For landlords, it is a great preventative measure.
- Market: How big is this market, and why now? The U.S. has 45.3M rental households (34.1% of all households), growing at 1.9% annually - more than double the homeowner growth rate. Regulatory tailwinds (e.g., California’s AB 2747 mandating rent reporting), rising alternative data adoption (35.18% CAGR forecast), and a growing number of student and international renters (1.1M international students in 2023) create urgency.
- Execution: Are the customer acquisition channels unique? A primary driver of early traction is university relationships, which are unique for this space and are hard-earned. Founding team is leveraging social expertise to develop a media operation which will help expand visibility and top of the funnel.
- Fundraisability: Is the founder a strong sales person? Alqhtani is passionate and brings a digital marketing skillset, which lends itself to being a strong storyteller.
Rentaba is resolving a long-standing disconnect in the financial system for a large (and growing) segment of the population: renters who deserve recognition for their financial responsibility and access to upward mobility.