Hoarder Control

With Amazon-like logistics, clutter is disrupting the $30 billion self-storage industry. Eventually it wants to let you ship, rent and sell your stuff.

- Kathleen Chaykowski And Samantha Sharf

Terry Shaylin had only a few days to clear out her mother’s Santa Monica apartment after an unexpected move overseas. Three days after Shaylin stumbled upon a Clutter ad, a moving truck arrives. “It was simple,” Shaylin says, as two Clutter movers in company T-shirts swaddle furniture in blankets and tape, stick a bar code on each package and link them to photos in a digital catalog. Next they drive nearly two hours east to a storage warehouse in the desert. Even better: Over six months, Shaylin will pay an estimated $700 less than she would have using traditional self storage.

Everything about the Clutter process flies in the face of storage-industry convention—and that’s the point. In just two years, Clutter has leveraged cheap real estate, solid customer service and smart technology to sign up more than 10,000 customers. It’s on track to bring in tens of millions in revenue this year. As the Culver City, California, company has taken aim at an industry that generates about $30 billion in annual sales, founders Ari Mir and Brian Thomas have raised $97 million from venture firms like Sequoia Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and London-based Atomico. With an estimated valuation of $240 million, Clutter plans to expand from its 7 current markets (Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Chicago, New Jersey, San Diego and San Francisco) to 50 cities globally in six years. Its closest startup rival, MakeSpace, has raised $61 million and operates in four markets. “With self storage, if you want to store a sofa, you have to call up your friends and bribe them with pizza to help you on a Saturday,” says Mir, who is CEO. “You drive it to a facility, you return the U-Haul, take an Uber home and your whole day is shot. With us, you just push a button.”