What Tellus does

Tellus App, Inc. is a Cupertino, USA-based fintech company founded in 2016 that operates a real-estate-backed savings and property management platform serving individual consumers, landlords, renters, small business owners, and short-term real estate borrowers. The company offers four integrated products through a single mobile-first app: a Mobile Wallet (personal savings with a daily-claim Boost mechanic paying a minimum 5.29% APY), a Business Wallet (Boost at minimum 5.29% APY and Reserve at 7.75% APY with a $2,500 minimum), a free Property Management suite (rent collection, tenant screening, work orders, document storage, and landlord-tenant chat with no unit limits), and a wholesale Lending operation that originates approximately 12-month business-purpose loans secured by non-owner-occupied residential property, distributed exclusively through licensed mortgage brokers.

The platform architecture combines a self-serve onboarding flow (under three minutes) with daily-payout rewards, FDIC-insured deposit accounts held at partner bank Central Bank of Kansas City, and payment infrastructure provided by Stripe and Plaid. Deposit funds are deployed into Tellus's own short-term real estate loan book, creating a net-interest-spread business model underwritten by residential property collateral in stable U.S. housing markets.

Tellus monetizes primarily through the spread between saver yields (5.29%–7.75% APY) and returns earned on its loan portfolio, with ancillary transaction fees on certain stablecoin transactions. The Property Management suite is offered free of charge as a customer acquisition and retention layer rather than a direct revenue line. Distribution is product-led via the iOS App Store, Google Play, and a web signup flow, with earned media in outlets such as TechCrunch, Business Insider, and Trustpilot reviews supporting top-of-funnel demand. The company has raised $16 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz in November 2022 and operates with 11–50 employees across a U.S.-only footprint.

Name

Tellus

Legal name

Tellus App, Inc.

Website

https://tellusapp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tellus App, Inc. is a Cupertino-based fintech that runs a mobile-first, real-estate-backed savings and property management platform for individual savers, landlords, renters, small businesses, and short-term real estate borrowers, funding deposits through its own wholesale residential bridge-loan book.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Savings Platform

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Finance Services (6199), Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159)

akta.pro primary industry

Embedded Deposit Accounts & Digital Wallet Infrastructure (FSAGALAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Risk, Compliance & Controls for Embedded Finance (KYB/KYC/AML, Fraud, Disputes) (FSAGALAK)

Keywords

• High-yield savings
• Property management software
• Business-purpose lending
• Digital savings wallet
• Real estate fintech

Headquarters

HQ city

Cupertino

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Business-Purpose Lending: Tellus operates as a non-bank lender making short-term loans (typically 12-month terms) against non-owner-occupied residential property. Borrowers include fix-and-flip operators, landlords pulling equity from rental properties, and developers doing small-scale residential construction. This is wholesale lending arranged through licensed mortgage brokers, not consumer mortgages.
2. Transaction Fees: Certain transactions, including some stablecoin transactions, may be subject to fees. Payment processing is provided by Stripe and Plaid.
3. Property Management Platform: Free property management tools for landlords, tenants, and property managers with no minimum or maximum number of units. Revenue is not derived directly from this service but supports customer acquisition and retention for the core savings/lending business.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Tellus is a mobile-first fintech platform that combines a high-yield digital savings wallet (minimum 5.29% APY, up to 7.75% APY on Reserve accounts) with a free rental property management suite and a business-purpose short-term lending operation secured by non-owner-occupied residential property. Savers, landlords, tenants, property managers and small businesses access the platform through iOS, Android and web, while lending is distributed wholesale through licensed mortgage brokers.

Product overview

Tellus is a unified fintech platform that combines real estate-powered savings tools with property management capabilities. The product portfolio consists of four integrated offerings: Mobile Wallet (personal savings with daily rewards), Business Wallet (business-purpose savings with higher APY rates), Property Management (free rental management tools for landlords, tenants, and property managers), and Lending (business-purpose short-term loans through licensed brokers). All offerings are powered by real estate collateral and operate through a single mobile app.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mobile Wallet All-in-one digital wallet for personal users that delivers competitive cash rewards through a daily Boost claiming mechanic with a minimum 5.29% APY, combined with goal-based Stacks savings and integrated property management tools. Designed for individual US consumers who download the iOS or Android app and self-onboard in under three minutes.
• Business Wallet Business-purpose digital wallet that lets US small businesses earn a minimum 5.29% APY on the Boost tier and 7.75% APY on the Reserve tier (with a $2,500 minimum starting balance), with daily payouts, no lockups and no account fees. Opened through a dedicated corporate signup flow on the web platform.
• Property Management Free rental property management platform covering online rent collection, tenant screening, landlord-tenant chat, work orders, income/expense ledger tracking, document storage and cash flow insights. Available to landlords, tenants and property managers at no cost, with no minimum or maximum unit restrictions; tenant screening is free for landlords while applicants pay the screening fee.
• Lending Business-purpose short-term lending operation offering loans (typically 12-month terms) secured by non-owner-occupied residential property, targeting fix-and-flip operators, landlords extracting equity from rental properties, and small-scale residential developers. Operated as a wholesale lender that works exclusively with licensed mortgage brokers rather than directly marketing to consumers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Minimum 5.29% APY on savings (Boost Account)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe provides payment processing infrastructure for Tellus's transaction capabilities.
• PlaidcoreTechnology or IntegrationPlaid provides financial data connectivity and account verification services for Tellus's payment solutions.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Yotta: Yotta is a consumer savings app that gamifies deposits through a weekly prize-linked reward mechanic. It is the closest conceptual analogue to Tellus's daily 'Boost' reward system, both targeting retail savers with engagement-driven yield enhancement.
• Wealthfront: Wealthfront offers a high-yield cash account alongside automated investing. It directly competes with Tellus's personal savings wallet on APY, liquidity, and digital onboarding for self-directed consumers.
• Acorns: Acorns is a consumer micro-investing and savings app targeting everyday Americans. It shares Tellus's mobile-first, self-serve approach to helping retail customers grow savings and engage financially, though Acorns focuses on equity investing rather than real-estate-backed yield.
• Stash: Stash is a mobile personal finance platform combining banking, investing, and financial education. It targets the same mass-market consumer demographic as Tellus with a similar product-led, app-first onboarding experience.
• Groundfloor: Groundfloor is a real estate lending platform that originates short-term, high-yield loans to residential fix-and-flip investors—the same borrower segment Tellus serves. It represents a comparable lending model on the asset-generation side of Tellus's balance sheet.
• Kiavi: Kiavi (formerly LendingHome) is a tech-enabled lender providing short-term financing to residential real estate investors. It is a direct competitor to Tellus's business-purpose lending operation targeting fix-and-flip and rental operators.
• Buildium: Buildium is property management software for landlords and property managers. It directly competes with Tellus's free property management suite on rent collection, tenant screening, and workflow tools for small landlords.

Broad incumbents

• Marcus by Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs's Marcus is a high-yield savings and personal lending brand offered by a top-tier bank. It competes with Tellus on consumer savings APYs but operates at vastly greater scale with a bank balance sheet.
• SoFi: SoFi is an integrated consumer fintech offering checking, savings, lending, and investing. It overlaps Tellus across mobile savings, business cash management, and personal lending, though at much greater scale and with a chartered bank.

Emerging players

• Doorvest: Doorvest is a tech-enabled residential real estate investing platform targeting individual landlords and passive investors. It overlaps Tellus on the intersection of real estate and consumer financial empowerment for the landlord/investor segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tellushome
• Facebookfacebook.com/tellusapp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tellus
• Instagraminstagram.com/tellusapp

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tellus