Participated · Seed · Nov 2022

Tellus operates a mobile-first savings product that pays retail customers 3.85%–4.5% APY by deploying deposits into U.S. single-family-home loans (primarily super jumbo loans). It targets existing homeowners seeking larger homes who struggle to get traditional financing and funds loans through partnerships with mortgage brokers. Tellus currently only lends in California due to its lending license and partnerships, while allowing anyone in the U.S. to use its savings software. The company says it has lent more than $80 million with an average loan size of $2 million, and reported revenue growth of 55% in Q3 versus Q2 2022. Tellus emphasizes strict underwriting and says it has not yet seen defaults because many borrowers refinance into better terms; retail customers earn interest daily and can withdraw at any time. The remote-first, Cupertino-based startup has about 50 employees and plans to build out engineering, marketing and product teams and expand a recently launched SMB offering.