LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clutter, a tech-enabled one-stop-shop for moving, storage, and packing services, today announced its combination with on-demand storage company MakeSpace. Operating under the Clutter brand, the company will expand its moving and storage services to serve over 6,500 towns and cities across the U.S., reaching 60% of Americans.
Clutter was founded in 2015 as an on-demand storage company—branded “Smart Storage”—that offers the pickup, storage and redelivery of customer belongings. After raising $200M in 2019 as part of a SoftBank-led round of funding, Clutter expanded its offerings by adding local moving and self-storage services to its signature Smart Storage service. Following the deal with MakeSpace, Clutter gains access to a broader geographical footprint and plans to scale its suite of offerings to these new markets.
“Over the past seven years, Clutter has been on a mission to help people through important life events,” said Ari Mir, co-founder and CEO of Clutter. “We’re building a one-stop-shop for moving and storage, and the addition of MakeSpace will allow us to say ‘yes’ to customers more than ever.”
Founded in 2013, MakeSpace set out to make storage more convenient and consumer-friendly, creating an affordable, tech-enabled storage experience that challenged industry incumbents. MakeSpace secured a Series D investment from Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM), which was accompanied by a joint venture partnership that leveraged Iron Mountain’s vast storage and logistics network and its operational expertise. Together, MakeSpace and Iron Mountain scaled the business from 4 to 31 markets in 18 months.
Iron Mountain will remain an investor in the combined company and will continue to add value to Clutter through a strategic commercial partnership and access to its global storage footprint.
This transaction is not the first merger or acquisition that Clutter and MakeSpace have successfully pursued. In addition to combining with MakeSpace, Clutter also acquired the Storage Fox portfolio for $152M in 2019, and has acquired all or a portion of the customer bases from on-demand storage companies Handy, Omni, Livible, Shed, and Callbox in recent years. In 2019, MakeSpace acquired on-demand storage company, Stashable, from Iron Mountain in conjunction with their Series D fundraising.
“The moving and storage industries are fragmented, and a really frustrating experience for a lot of customers. There is clear demand for a brand that consumers know they can trust nationwide, and the combination of MakeSpace and Clutter will put the company in an excellent position to offer convenient storage and moving services nationwide, with plenty of room to grow,” said Rahul Gandhi, co-founder and former CEO of MakeSpace. Rahul will join Clutter as President.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the moving and storage industries have seen huge growth in demand as Americans work from home, relocate to suburban locations, or adopt a digital nomadic lifestyle. At the same time, Millennials and Gen Z are aging into the core age group for storage and are increasingly seeking convenience and technology from their service providers. More Americans are using self-storage than ever before and storage vacancy rates have never been lower.
Clutter has seen an increased demand for its moving and storage services over the last few years. The recent growth, alongside the upcoming expansion, will allow the company to explore new services, as well as opportunities for national and worldwide expansion.
“From Iron Mountain’s perspective as a global leader in storage for over 70 years, we really see Clutter as the future of the on-demand storage industry, and we’re excited to use our expertise, experience, and global network of facilities to help Clutter grow,” said Greg McIntosh, EVP, Chief Commercial Officer of Iron Mountain.
“We are excited to have MakeSpace join the Clutter brand. Together, we will have the scale, efficiencies, and necessary resources to consider a more robust set of strategic options for the company—including going public,” said Mir. “Right now our focus will continue to be investing in our people, serving more customers, and capitalizing on opportunities to fulfill our mission.”
About Clutter
Clutter is a one-stop-shop, providing the most affordable, flexible, and reliable moving and storage services nationally. Founded in 2015, Clutter is on a mission to make people’s lives convenient, so they can experience more of what they love. With a presence in 6,500 cities nationwide, Clutter offers white-glove Moving, Packing, Smart Storage, and Self-Storage services. The company has raised $300M from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia, Atomico, and GV. Learn more at https://www.clutter.com/.
About MakeSpace
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York City, MakeSpace set out to make storage more convenient and consumer-friendly, creating an affordable, tech-enabled storage experience that’s reshaping the industry. Customers only pay for the space they need and can schedule pickups, drop-offs, and other services through an app complete with a digital photo inventory. The company has raised $150M from investors including Iron Mountain, 8VC, Upfront Ventures, and others.
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) is the global leader in innovative storage, asset lifecycle management and information management services. Founded in 1951 and trusted by more than 225,000 customers worldwide, Iron Mountain helps customers CLIMB HIGHER™ to transform their businesses. Through a range of services including digital transformation, data centers, secure records storage, information management, asset lifecycle management, secure destruction, and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps businesses bring light to their dark data, enabling customers to unlock value and intelligence from their stored digital and physical assets at speed and with security, while helping them meet their environmental goals. To learn more about Iron Mountain, please visit: www.IronMountain.com and follow @IronMountain on Twitter and LinkedIn.
