Neighbor Inc., a national peer-to-peer self-storage marketplace, has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Neighbor intends to use the money to strengthen its presence in core markets like Los Angeles and Salt Lake City as well as fund further expansion across the United States, according to a source.
“The self-storage industry in the United States will eclipse $40 billion in revenue in 2020, capping off a decade of astronomical growth that we believe is firmly related to the burdensome costs of homeownership and the increasing premium placed on space,” Neighbor CEO Joseph Woodbury said in a press release.
As part of the funding, Jeff Jordan, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, will join the Neighbor Board of Directors. Jordan also sits on the boards of Airbnb, Instacart, Lime and Pinterest. He was formerly an executive at eBay, PayPal and OpenTable. “Neighbor has a lot of the attributes that first attracted me to the Airbnb investment—economic empowerment for the hosts, a superior value proposition for the guests in a huge market, and better leveraging existing infrastructure in a sustainable way,” Jordan said. “I look forward to supporting their efforts to build a comparable company.”
Other investors who contributed to the round include Nate Bosshard, a former partner at Khosla Ventures and co-founder of Tonal, and Ryan Graves, who served as the first CEO of Uber, the release stated.
Neighbor received $2.5 million in seed funding in 2018. The latest round comes at a time in which other self-storage peer-to-peer platforms have had trouble gaining traction, a source reported. “Most marketplaces fail,” Woodbury said. “It has to be at a certain scale.”
Launched in Salt Lake City in 2017, Neighbor has a presence in all 50 states. The online platform matches people in need of storage with local hosts willing to rent available space. Some Neighbor hosts have made $25,000 in annual, passive income, according to the release.
“A lot of our growth continues to be organic,” Woodbury told a source. “The more people we get making thousands of dollars, the more people we have telling their friends about it.”
Based in Lehi, Utah, Neighbor primarily offers peer-to-peer storage in Utah, though it’s platform invites hosts to connect with storage seekers anywhere in the nation, according to its website.
Sources:
PR Newswire, Neighbor.com Taps Andreessen Horowitz to Lead $10 Million Series A Funding
Yahoo Finance, Airbnb-Inspired Startup Neighbor Raises $10M to Crack Self-Storage Puzzle
Deseret News, Storage Disruptor Neighbor Snags $10M From Silicon Valley Heavyweights
Neighbor, Website
