LuggageHero
- named one of PhocusWire’s
Hot 25 Startups for 2019
- has landed $1.45 million in funding to expand its luggage-storage operations.
Venture capital firm Nordic Eye led the round, investing $1.15 million; the Danish Growth Fund and Innovation Fund Denmark also participated.
Through LuggageHero, travelers can book storage space by the hour for their bags at local stores, which in turn receive compensation for hosting bags as well as extra foot traffic.
The service is currently available in New York, London and Copenhagen but will expand to 36 additional cities thanks to the new funding.
By January 2020, LuggageHero estimates 1,700 storage locations - including retail outlets, cafes and hotels - will be added to those currently in operation.
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The first nine cities to launch, in spring 2019, include San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Montreal, Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Rome.
LuggageHero says it will also begin to offer third-party integration with hospitality companies, allowing vacation rental companies, for example, to integrate storage reservation options into their own platforms. The integration will eventually be offered to online travel agency and other booking-related sites.
Since launching in 2016, LuggageHero has stored more than 125,000 pieces of luggage for more than 650,000 hours and has had double-digit monthly revenue growth.
Over two funding rounds, the company - led by founder and CEO Jannik Lawaetz - has raised more than $2.25 million.
“LuggageHero has rapidly developed a leadership position in the competitive market for self-service luggage storage,” says Peter Warnoe, CEO of Nordic Eye.
“We’ve been very impressed with their growth so far, and LuggageHero is exactly the kind of founder-led, nimble business that we like to invest in.”