Self-Storage Startup, Flush With Investor Cash, Begins Expansion

Self-storage startup Stuf, recent recipient of investor capital, is beginning a national expansion. The company has 22 locations on both coasts, including Southern and Northern California, metro New York and Washington, D.C., with plans for an unspecified number of new facilities this year.

Stuf recently opened locations in Seattle, including a 5.5K SF location adjacent to a Downtown parking garage and a 3.5K SF space in the basement of a building in Pioneer Square, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports.

Earlier this year, the self-storage startup Stuf closed an $11M Series A financing round led by Altos Ventures and Allegion Ventures, with participation from Wilshire Lane Capital and Harlem Capital, among other investors.

In March, the company opened a location in Boston in space that used to be overflow storage for an office building, but was essentially underutilized.

The new locations hew to Stuf's business model, which takes existing but underutilized space in commercial properties, such as basements, surplus parking space or other neglected spots, and retrofits them to be tech-enabled self-storage, ideally closer to a base of renters.

Stuf is marketing its services to landlords as a way to create new revenue streams, which may be especially appealing to office property owners who are squeezed by tepid occupancies.

“What I heard from investors across the board is, yes, self-storage really needs improvement,” Stuf CEO Katharine Lau told Bisnow in March. “They're surprised that no one has really tackled this approach before.”

By repurposing spaces in existing buildings, the company avoids the time-consuming and costly process of building new, Lau said.