A decade of redefining real estate: celebrating TheGuarantors’ majority investment by Warburg Pincus
Today, we are thrilled to announce a new important milestone for one of our earliest portfolio companies: TheGuarantors has officially signed an agreement for a majority investment by Warburg Pincus.
This transaction marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the company. For White Star Capital, it marks the culmination of a decade-long partnership and is a second-fund returner for our first fund, following Nestlé’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Freshly in 2020, generating a MOIC of 23x and an IRR of 39% over the investment period.
From pre-product to market leader
When White Star Capital first led TheGuarantors’ Seed round in January 2016 (you can read our thoughts on that initial investment here), the company was pre-product and pre-revenue. However, we saw something undeniable in the founding team: a crystal-clear vision to solve a deeply entrenched problem in the real estate market by fundamentally aligning the interests of renters and property managers.
We doubled down on our conviction, supporting its founder and CEO, Julien Bonneville and his fantastic team through their Series A in 2017 and Series B in 2018.
Today, TheGuarantors operates at a remarkable scale:
- Massive market penetration: Protecting and supporting over 3.5 million enrolled units and more than $6 billion in lease value.
- Exceptional execution: Providing multiple financial products across all 50 US states, delivering real-time risk decisions in under 10 seconds through AI.
- Sustained profitability: Demonstrating rare, high-growth capital efficiency with surging EBITDA margins in a complex market.
A shared vision realised
TheGuarantors’ success is a textbook example of what happens when world-class execution meets a massive market need. By leveraging innovative financial and insurance technology, they have made housing more accessible for millions of renters while simultaneously de-risking portfolios for property operators.
Far from an easy journey, Julien succeeded over the years in surrounding himself with brilliant partners in a fiercely competitive market, enabling him to reach profitability during the challenging years of COVID.
In late 2025, on the back of sustained profitability and market dominance, the company began exploring its next phase of growth. After a highly competitive process, Warburg Pincus emerged as the ideal partner to help TheGuarantors scale to even greater heights, bringing deep operational expertise and financial backing.
Looking ahead
Venture capital is fundamentally about believing in people before the rest of the world catches on. TheGuarantors’ journey, from an ambitious early-stage idea in 2016 to a leader in its market today, employing close to 300 people across the United States, is a powerful reminder of why we do what we do at White Star Capital.
As TheGuarantors begins a new chapter in its growth story with new partners to help realise its ambition, we are immensely proud of the journey Julien and his team have been on, and of the day-to-day support we have had the privilege to provide along the way. Supporting exceptional founders from the very beginning, and standing beside them as they climb each new mountain, is exactly what drives us.
We want to extend our deepest congratulations to the entire management team and every employee at TheGuarantors who helped build this exceptional business. We are incredibly proud to have been part of your early story, and we cannot wait to see what you achieve next alongside Warburg Pincus.