Physical storage in ‘the cloud’? MakeSpace launches Air service

Storage startup MakeSpace promises to be “your closet in the cloud.”

MakeSpace isn’t a cloud storage company; it stores for your extra stuff, and it has a digital interface. The company launched its pick-up/drop-off storage service in New York late last year — and it intends to bring it to other cities soon. But a new offering introduced Thursday enables MakeSpace to cover the entire U.S.

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With MakeSpace Air, you can mail boxes to MakeSpace, and it’ll send them back when you request them. MakeSpace helps you keep track of your stuff by photographing the contents of each box and uploading it to your account. The company is also developing an iOS app that enables customers to photograph and tag their own boxes.

“We will continue on our path to expand to 30 cities in the next few years, but we are opening up this platform to people everywhere with this offering,” MakeSpace CEO Samuel Rosen told VentureBeat. “Our ‘competitor’ is that overfilled garage, attic, or childhood bedroom in northern New Jersey — that’s the butt that needs kicking.”

More accurately, MakeSpace competes with more traditional storage spaces: In New York, for example, some of its competitors include Manhattan Mini Storage and Chelsea Mini Storage. (A few years back, this reporter had a television stolen from a wholly uncooperative Chelsea Mini Storage.) It also competes with Pods, which will drive a giant storage container to your door and store it in one of its facilities (or help you move your stuff across the country).

The 12-person MakeSpace has raised $2.1 million in seed funding to offer a more convenient, urban-friendly alternative. It’s backed by some high-profile investors, including Gary Vaynerchuk, Naval Ravikant, and Dave Morin.