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SALT LAKE CITY — Following a year of record growth for Lehi-based tech company Neighbor, the startup has raised another $53 million in its latest Series B investment round, officials announced on Wednesday.
Founded in 2017, the self-storage marketplace helps users with unused space in their homes — like garages, attics, basements and even driveways — find renters in need of storage space. Vacant office spaces or other empty spaces can also be rented out as storage space.
Today, Neighbor operates in all 50 states, and the platform claims to be a better alternative to traditional storage units by providing the service at about half the cost and in a more accessible way.
Hosts of the units can make thousands of dollars renting out their space and are guaranteed up to $1 million of liability protection. Renters are provided a $25,000 protection guarantee for their items stored.
With the new funds, the company will continue to expand its brand across the U.S. and make "additional strategic hires" in Silicon Slopes, according to a news release.
The funding round was led by California-based real estate investor Fifth Wall Ventures and will provide Neighbor the opportunity to partner with Fifth Wall's real estate investors and partners from 15 countries.
"Our firm ardently pursued the opportunity to invest in a transformative proptech business like Neighbor," Dan Wenhold, Fifth Wall partner, said in a news release. "Self-storage is the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry for four decades running and Neighbor has already built an impressive business positioned to capture untapped demand for space in a smart and sustainable way."
As part of that series round, Neighbor also welcomed new investors from companies that helped revolutionize other industries through tech including Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, and former Uber CEO Ryan Graves.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an increase in traffic and reservations with the platform that began before 2020, according to the company. Neighbor made a mark on commercial real estate last year, growing its industry footprint even larger throughout the year and attracting coverage from the Wall Street Journal.
"Storing your personal goods in someone else's space is rooted in trust and we're proud to have expanded our community's trust into tens of millions of square feet in big cities, small towns, suburbs and rural areas across all fifty states," Neighbor CEO and co-founder Joseph Woodbury said in a news release.
