This Startup Has an App to Solve Urban India's Space Crunch

Relocating to a new country or city? Planning to just get away from it all, and live out of a backpack for a couple of months? Say you're moving out of Mumbai for two months, or remodelling your place. Where do you store your things? Thankfully, there's now an on-demand self-storage service in India that will cost you a fraction of home and office rent.

BoxMySpace, a 6-month-old startup from Mumbai was founded by Pratyush Jalan to solve the problem of space crunch in India's urban cities. The firm raised Rs. 1.92 crores earlier this week, in a funding round led by Farooq Oomerbhoy, Ritesh Veera and Singapore Angel Networks. The service will expand to Pune, Bangalore, and Delhi this year.

Jalan was exposed to the concept of self storage in the US from his time as an undergraduate student at Cornell, followed by work stints at Seattle and Mumbai. Unlike western markets, there is no concept of a garage storage for an apartment in India. The service has over 500 boxes stored in their warehouse facility, viewable on Google Maps.

According to him, the service has got a good response from both consumers and businesses, with people storing their winter clothes, Diwali decorations, documents, files, and peripherals. "We actually started out with a thousand square feet space, and now we have a 12,000 square feet facility," Jalan said.

"For businesses, hiring a space in the city becomes a big problem. To go and get a warehouse yourself, you get sort of locked in by lease, price, there are security issues, it's just a hassle." he added.

BoxMySpace has two models, by the box, and by the space. The cost of storing a box, measuring 2x1.5x1 feet ranges from Rs. 199 to Rs. 69 a month, which includes a free pickup. Larger storage items can be stored in 4x4 feet and 6x6 feet packages, ranging from Rs. 599-999 and Rs. 1,499-1,999.

The customer can use the service through the Web or mobile apps, available on Android and iOS. "You can call your items back any time you want, within 24 hours. We take an inventory of what you have stored and upload it to your account. You get a full visual catalogue of all the things you have stored, and search through them," Jalan said.

BoxMySpace is looking to invest in its technology and operational side, specifically on record management, logistics, automation, and booking process. The service leases out space from logistics warehouses to reduce capital expenditures, and works with last mile logistics providers like The Porter and Shipplr.

While BoxMySpace doesn't handle relocation, they facilitate it with other logistics providers. "Logistics players already have centres in other cities, we just need a space where the standards are set. We need 12 CCTV cameras, fireproof, ventilation... now that we know the parameters, we need facilities of this kind. Once that's put in place, it's basically replication." Jalan said.

In a bid to improve consumer trust, BoxMySpace offers a virtual tour of their facility on Google Maps, and insures every box for Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 1 lakh per space. The company sees opportunities in the second hand marketplace, where distress sales can be stored with the service until a good deal is found.