Former Hapoel Tel Aviv captain and Israel national team player Shimon Gershon has launched Direct Guarantees, a new digital platform aimed at renters. The company is already running TV campaigns, was built with about 12 million shekels in investment, and Gershon owns 100% of it.
The service lets tenants secure a guarantee for a landlord without depositing cash, through an online process that takes about five minutes. Direct Guarantees underwrites the tenant, and if the applicant meets its criteria, it issues the guarantee in exchange for 6.5% of the guarantee amount per year. Gershon said the model is meant to give tenants an alternative to a security deposit or bank guarantee while giving landlords full protection. He said the company has already signed cooperation agreements with Mivne Real Estate, Rent It and City Boy.
Gershon said the company recently received approval to act as a reporting entity in Israel’s credit data system after a strict regulatory process with Bank of Israel. With the customer’s consent, it can obtain a detailed credit report, use an algorithm to make a decision within minutes, and report the transaction back into the credit database. He said missed obligations could hurt a tenant’s credit score later. The platform’s target is to reach about 10% of Israel’s rental market, roughly 90,000 active guarantees, within five years.
He argued that the product can work beyond central Israel, citing activity in Kiryat Gat through Rent It and interest from workers with limited cash on hand as well as tech employees who prefer speed and convenience. The company says it already covers more than 500 apartments and is growing. Gershon said the idea came from his own experience renting a home and losing a 30,000-shekel guarantee after a dispute over lawn damage. The company employs five people, including Gershon as CEO and his brother Savi Gershon as vice president for regulation, and he said profitability could begin at around 1,000 active guarantees.
