CityStasher makes a case for being the Airbnb for left luggage

by Startacus Admin

Founded in 2015 and based in London, CityStasher is a ‘sharing economy’ solution for left luggage storage (think Airbnb but for your heavy bags and suitcases).

Connecting tourists with local hotels and shops who can securely store their bags, both the ‘hosts’ generate revenue and new footfall, and the the tourists save time and money.

So what’s the left luggage problem?

Anyone that has visited a new city with heavy bags in tow can feel totally burdened with heavy bags and belonging. Of course left luggage storage is nothing new, but CityStasher aims to offer a more affordable and convenient solution with cost savings of over 50% in London, and 40% in the rest of the UK compared to typical station left luggage services.

CityStasher was initially founded by a group of Uni friends (Matt, Jake and Ant) and with Thanos Tsachalis joining to develop the site, CityStasher has so far made a great case to small businesses (from newsagents to hotels) that have extra space with those who want to store luggage to sign up to being storage hosts.

Co-Founder Jacob Wedderburn-Day explained:

“Unlike many tech startups that disrupt traditional high street businesses, we empower them”, said Jacob. “Since signing up is free, our StashPoints start making money from the very first booking.” Current hosts make £100s a month and CityStasher users are making significant savings – it’s a win-win for all. “

With CityStasher bagging investment from the CEO and Chairman of Big Yellow Storage at the end of 2016, CityStasher aims to cover all of the UK’s major transport and tourist destinations in 2017.

Co-founder Anthony Collias, said of the investment:

“CityStasher recently raised c. £100,000 from a group of angel investors including Jim Gibson, CEO of Big Yellow Storage - investing in a personal capacity. The money has been put to use scaling the business across the UK and building a new web-platform. Since launching last April, we've already provided 5,000 days of storage and signed up 50 listings across the country.”

We looking for to hearing more on this shared economy solution over the coming months and wish the whole team at CityStasher well going forward.

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• #citystasher
• #left luggage
• #sharing economy
• #shared economy
• #london
• #luggage
• #high street
• #airbnb
• #suitcases

Published on: 20th March 2017