AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SpareFoot, the country’s largest marketplace for finding and booking self-storage, today announced it has closed a $33 million investment to accelerate its growth. SpareFoot has used a proven marketplace model to bring technology to a traditional, multibillion-dollar industry, and has become to storage what OpenTable is to restaurants, Booking.com is to travel and Zillow is to home buying. New investor Revolution Growth led the round, with participation from existing investor Insight Venture Partners and new investor Monkfish Equity. In conjunction with the financing, Scott Hilleboe, partner at Revolution Growth, and entrepreneur Rony Kahan, co-founder and chairman of job search engine Indeed, will join SpareFoot’s Board of Directors.
Founded in 2008 by Chuck Gordon and Mario Feghali, Austin-based SpareFoot has brought the power of the Internet to the highly fragmented self-storage industry. Through its online marketplace and partnerships with major consumer brands like AAA and Penske, SpareFoot connects thousands of independently owned and operated self-storage providers together with millions of consumers searching for storage units. This significant investment will allow SpareFoot to accelerate their national expansion and enable the company to invest in new product offerings.
“Using the SpareFoot platform, consumers in need of self-storage can quickly and easily find and book a facility that meets their needs based on price, location, and other filterable options,” said Steve Case, co-founder and partner at Revolution Growth. “At Revolution, we believe that the Internet can be a tremendous force to level the playing field for independent small and midsize businesses. SpareFoot is making that possible by providing a suite of marketing tools for self-storage providers to acquire new customers easily and compete with big brands in the industry.”
“SpareFoot will use this investment from Revolution Growth, Insight Venture Partners and Monkfish Equity primarily to invest more heavily in product development and engineering,” said Chuck Gordon, co-founder and CEO of SpareFoot. “This investment will allow us to make it even easier for consumers to find the best storage facility in minutes and to help our thousands of independent self-storage operators compete online.”
Since launching in 2008, SpareFoot has raised a total of $59 million in venture capital. Capital Factory, FLOODGATE and Silverton Partners also are investors in the company. SpareFoot employs about 200 people at its headquarters in downtown Austin. By the end of 2015, the company aims to employ close to 280 people with most of the new hires in engineering, product development and customer service.
About SpareFoot
SpareFoot makes renting self-storage easy. Our free marketplace lets customers find and reserve storage units online. We have the largest inventory of storage units in the U.S., with a network of more than 9,400 facilities, ranging from independent operators to publicly traded REITs. We reach millions of people who need storage through exclusive partnerships with brands like AAA, ForRent.com, Penske Truck Rental and SelfStorage.com.
For more information, visit SpareFoot.com.
About Revolution Growth
Founded and led by Steve Case, Ted Leonsis, and Donn Davis, Revolution Growth invests in companies that can change the world. Its mission is to build disruptive, innovative businesses that offer consumers more choice, convenience and control in their lives. By taking a long-term approach and developing a true, hands-on partnership with entrepreneurs and management teams, Revolution Growth brings a unique strategy and passion to investing in and building significant companies.
For more information, visit www.revolution.com/growth.
About Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners is a leading global private equity and venture capital firm investing in software, Internet and data-services companies. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $7.6 billion and made more than 200 investments worldwide. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives who are driving change in their industries. Insight provides them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success.
For more information, visit www.InsightPartners.com.
About Monkfish Equity
Monkfish Equity, based in Germany, is a venture capital firm founded by four of the executives behind trivago, the world’s No. 1 website for making hotel price comparisons.
For more information, visit www.monkfish-equity.com.