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When and how did you start?
” We started the self-storage business in April 2018. Given that the facility is one of the most important aspects of this business, we visited multiple, international self-storage companies, visited their facilities and interacted with them on key aspects like reputed suppliers, ideal storage conditions, customer needs, etc.
When customers come into the facility, we want to ensure that they get a feeling of convenience, privacy and security. As this is a new concept in India, our priority is the maintenance and upkeep of our facility so that customers trust that their things are going to be kept safely.
Our family has experience in commercial real estate and warehousing for over 3 decades. Having interacted with international players, we learnt a considerable amount about the business and once we returned we realized that this is the perfect solution for a space-starved city like Mumbai”, Explains Mr. Ameya Davda Co-Founder of Space Valet.
How did you come up with the idea? Your inspiration moment
” My Co-Founder Devak Davda and I both studied and lived abroad. He was in London and I was in San Francisco for about 5 years. The concept of storage units (self-storage) is widely-used there and is a $40 billion dollar industry in the United States alone. Almost every family there owns a storage unit for their extra things.
When we moved back to India, we knew that in a city like Mumbai, people have lesser space for their stuff than people in the U.S. Space is a scarce resource in our city and with the increasing cost of real estate, we wanted to give people an innovative, affordable and secure storage solution that works as their personal storeroom or simply an extra closet ” Says Ameya Davda .
We also added the “valet” service to offer an added convenience because we understand the needs and requirements of the Indian customers. As we built our business plan, we realized that use cases and possibilities are endless – Whether you are moving or renovating, have clutter in your home, need to keep art work safely or are a growing business that needs to store their inventory somewhere, we help you keep your mind at ease. The big “Eureka!” moment came when I got married recently – When my wife moved into our home, I realized that there is no place for all of our belongings to fit into our tiny bedroom! That’s when I realized that people would never say no to a little extra space to live an organized life!
Brief about the organization and founding members
Space Valet was founded to provide customers with an alternative to traditional and unorganized storage options in our country. Companies catering specifically to household customers are far outnumbered by their corporate counterparts. We want to make secure, convenient and stress-free storage accessible to all.
We provide an innovative storage solution to homes and businesses. We’d like customers to think of us as their storage hub.We have multiple and flexible storage plans that cater to anyone: whether customers need to store their business inventory or maybe just a few household goods, we’re here to help!
Space Valet’s special month to month storage allows you to keep your things safe for as long as you need. We won’t tie you down with lengthy lock-in periods! Our goal is to help you live a clutter-free life while keeping your things safe, and of course, in perfect condition! We give our customers their very own, secure storage unit of any size they may require. Our internationally designed storage units are strong and durable that keeps all kinds of goods safe from the extreme temperatures in our country. Don’t need an entire unit for your stuff? Not to worry!
You can always go for our sealable and durable Space Valet boxes. The best part? Our “Valet” team will deliver any of your boxes whenever you need it back! Whether you want to store your high school certificates, your winter clothes or that precious coin collection, we have you covered!
About Founding members
Ameya Davda studied in California before returning to Mumbai to work at Weizmann Forex. He along with his brother decided to expand their family business of logistics into a more modern set up with modern facilities and approach.
Devak Davda studied Business and Information Management at the University of Sheffield and went on to do his master’s in Management, Information Systems and Innovation at the London School of Economics. On returning to India, he worked as a management consultant at KPMG for a little over 3 years after which he went on to co-found Space Valet.
The detailed journey, like what all you want to share with readers.
I think it’s a little early to answer this question, The journey has only just begun.
About funding, plans for growth
We are currently self-funded. We are, however, looking to launch our next facilities soon and plan to expand to other cities where we see the need for accessible storage.
At that stage, we would probably be looking to raise funding from investors who are keen to partner with us in our long journey ahead.
Expansion cannot come at the cost of quality. Our aim is to ensure that any facility we set-up, is operating at the highest standards set by self-storage associations across the world, and we don’t want to compromise on our processes and infrastructure.
In the end, if we cannot provide secure and well maintained facilities, we cannot offer meaningful and trustworthy services to our clients.
Ancillary and value added services which includes making reservations for units a more simple and seamless process are also in the works and we shall roll that out very soon. We are ensuring that we build on our partnerships and our associations with related companies so that customers need not look elsewhere for any of their storage requirements.
Challenges and Opportunities/ Marketing Strategies
The big challenge in this business is to find the right facility that is both economical and easily accessible to us and also to our customers. Customer satisfaction, especially in a new industry like this is critical and our goal is to offer a seamless and reassuring experience in order to build the trust of potential customers.
Most of our new clients take out time to see the facility for themselves. If a customer is not entirely convinced by how secure or well maintained our facilities really are, we lose the trust that sets us apart
A quote from the founder on the journey, or dealing with the challenge, or any inspiring moment.
While any business idea may seem great in your head, always listen to what people are saying. Conduct surveys, interview people and leaders of your industry to know what consumers are actually looking for.
Always be prepared to adapt your business model and strategy to the changing realities and challenges that will inevitably come your way. Above all, you just have to try!
Your website / apps / and contact details
Url : www.spacevalet.in.
contact numbers: 9930832832, 24188888
