Neighbor raises $53 million

Neighbor, the self-storage marketplace, announced it has closed a $53 million Series B funding round led by Fifth Wall, with support from returning investor Andreessen Horowitz and additional funding from DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and StockX CEO Scott Cutler, who will join former Uber CEO Ryan Graves and Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson as investors and advisors to Neighbor.

Founded in 2017, Neighbor connects people in need of storage with hosts in their neighborhood willing to lease extra storage space in their home or garage. The startup, which at one point described itself as the Airbnb of storage, claims that storage rates offered on the platform are approximately 40-50% less than traditional storage facilities.

2020 was a record-breaking year for Neighbor. The startup saw a 5X YoY increase in revenue from March 2020 to March 2021 and 7X increase in organic reservations. Aside from residential households using Neighbor to monetize garage, driveway and basement space, commercial owners also repurposed vacancies into storage rentals.

In addition to leading the round, Fifth Wall has facilitated opportunities for Neighbor to partner with the firm’s extensive roster of strategic LPs – 65+ of the world’s largest owners and operators of real estate from 15 countries.

“With a roster of investors and advisors hailing from the world’s largest marketplace operators, including Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash and StockX, Neighbor will use this sizable investment to rapidly expand its nationwide network of hosts and renters. Storing your personal goods in someone else’s space is rooted in trust and we’re proud to have expanded our community’s trust into tens of millions of square feet in big cities, small towns, suburbs and rural areas across all fifty states.” – Joseph Woodbury, CEO and cofounder of Neighbor.

“Our firm ardently pursued the opportunity to invest in a transformative proptech business like Neighbor. Self-storage is the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry for four decades running and Neighbor has already built an impressive business positioned to capture untapped demand for space in a smart and sustainable way.” – Dan Wenhold, partner, Fifth Wall.

Bottom Line: Uur Insurers & Alternative Distribution report covers why acquiring Neighbor is a smart move.