Stora has been valued at £5.5million in our latest funding round! Find out how we plan on using this latest round of investment to benefit customers
I’m really excited to share the news that we have just raised an equity funding round of £1.1m, valuing Stora at just a fraction under £5.5m. Investors in the round include existing shareholders, Techstart Ventures and industry veteran, David Milton, as well as new investors from across the industry and beyond.
When we started Stora two years ago, we did it because we couldn’t find modern software to help us run our own self storage business. So, we started to build something that would make launching and running a self storage business easier. In the first half of 2021, a few ambitious people who shared our vision took a risk on a new startup and became our first customers (h/t to Lizzie Jenner at Blockspace, Anthony Adams at Engage and Justin Farthing at Castle Cary). Word spread quickly and we now have more than 70 customers in ten countries across three continents. Just 18 months after launching, Stora processes almost 1% of UK self storage revenues.
As our product has matured and grown, we’ve also seen an increasing number of larger operators choose Stora, often switching from older software products they’ve been using for years. It has become increasingly clear that the benefits of digital automation are as applicable to a 30 site self storage business as they are to one.
Relentless focus on Rapid Innovation
Our focus will remain on rapid innovation. We believe the market for self storage software is in need of something new, something different, something that makes the transition towards increasing digital automation simple. Our work will always be about building the best possible tools for our customers, tools that make their lives easier and help them build better self storage businesses.
What we’ll do with the funding
The vast majority of our funding will be invested in developing our product. This means product designers, software engineers and people who talk to our customers to learn what areas we need to focus on next. We are a product-first company with our number one focus being on building the best product in the industry for the benefit of our customers.
What we’ve been doing and what we’re doing next
Over the past six months we have released a ton of new features, including time period flexibility (charge customers on any recurring timing you like), automated direct debits, PTI gate integration and website homepage design choices. In the next few weeks we’ll be releasing facility maps and we’ve begun working an automated price increase product, a new reporting centre and one-off payments at check-out so you’ll be able to charge deposits or sell padlocks/boxes, all with Stora.
All of these features are in addition to automated billing and payments, online bookings, automated bank-level ID checks, online contract signatures, facility management, smart entry integration, analytics and tons more already offered by Stora.
Beyond 2022, we will continue building innovative tools and features that give Stora customers a significant and sustainable advantage over their competition. More on that as we go.
Finally, none of this would have been possible without our incredible customers. Thank you to all of you for taking the leap with Stora.
About Stora
Stora is an E-Commerce and Automation software product that helps self storage operators grow sales, reduce costs and save time. Stora is based in Banbridge, Northern Ireland and has employees in five countries. Find out more at stora.co.
