February 2025: News from Housing Venture Lab Alumni

What have Housing Venture Lab alumni been up to lately?

• Module (2022 cohort) announced their first multifamily “missing middle” housing development, a 3-story, 9-unit building in Richmond, Virginia.
  
  

• ROC USA (2024) was awarded an incredible $38 million through HUD’s PRICE program to support their efforts to preserve and revitalize manufactured home communities.
  
  

• As of this year, PadSplit (2020)’s co-living model has housed more than 40,000 residents.
  
  

• Housing Connector (2023) secured $2.1 million in funding to bring their model to Austin, Texas and began a partnership with the City of Sacramento.
  
  

• Trust Neighborhoods (2021) received two-year grants of $700,000 from the Marguerite Casey Foundation and $500,000 from the Melville Charitable Trust.
  
  

• Esusu (2020)'s renters reported an average credit score increase of 45 points in 2024; the company also recently announced their acquisition of fraud prevention company Celeri.

• The Kelsey’s (2022) second disability-forward community, in San Francisco’s Civic Center, was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle.
  

• BuildCasa (2024) was named as one of Business Insider’s 20 Hottest Proptech Startups.
  

• Esusu (2020) co-founder and CEO Wemimo Abbey spoke on Financial Freestyle with Ross Mac about thriving as a “Black unicorn” in the startup world.