Valet Self-Storage Business MyStorage Launches in Melbourne, Australia

MyStorage Delivered Pty. Ltd., a startup business specializing in valet self-storage services, recently launched in Melbourne, Australia. The company uses an online platform that allows customers to schedule free item pickup, maintain an image catalog of stored bins and bulky items, and schedule delivery of items to their home.

Similar to other valet-style storage operators, MyStorage offers by-the-bin storage targeted at urban residents who don’t have adequate home storage. Customers pay $24 per month to store a minimum of three bins and $8 per month per bin for additional boxes. Prices for bulky items vary but range from $4 per month for a tennis racket to $12 for a bicycle. Home delivery is $29, with bins returned within 48 hours of scheduling, according to the company website.

The company plans to attract customers by leveraging social media, co-founder Simon Guerin told the source. “A lot of the target market we’re looking at are savvy, inner-city urban dwellers,” he said. “They’re on social media most of the day, whether that be Twitter or Facebook. We will be trying to get users by word-of-mouth to encourage their friends to use us as well.”

MyStorage follows valet-storage operator Boxly into the Melbourne market and plans to eventually serve other metro markets in Australia, according to the company website.

The Australian valet-storage market has attracted the attention of investors as well as startups, partly because they believe the traditional self-storage market can be disrupted by services that leverage new technology, according to the source. “There are two thematics for disruption: anywhere where the middle man is required to facilitate a transaction or where there exists a centralized commodity, which could be distributed by the use of technology,” said Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin, CEO of Blue Chilli, a business incubator and venture-capital firm. “Storage sits in the middle of these two so is ripe for disruption.”