A few weeks ago I did a Startup Central blog post on Airbnb, and this week I have something very similar for you: AirGarage. Air Garage is a startup founded by three young university students in 2016. Like Airbnb, the founders of AirGarage Scott, Chelsea, and Jonathon, found a local needs issue that could be projected to a global market: insane parking prices at their university. Similar to the trio that founded Airbnb, they turned to local drive ways that were sitting there unused to pitch an incredible idea, “are you willing to rent your driveway to parkers in need?”

Many that first encounter AirGarage will dismiss it as another Airbnb targeting parking spaces, but the thing is this is a market that’s never been touched before. According to their official website Airgara.ge, “parking real estate is inefficiently used throughout cities”. According to Angel.co, a website evaluating startups, AirGarage is capable of turning empty parking lots and driveways into money making machines. Additionally, AirGarage is capable of repurposing 30% of the American city currently occupied by parking.

For example, how many times have you traveled to a city and learned that the hotel only offers valet parking which costs almost half as much as the room cost you’re paying for the stay? Then, after an hour of driving around the nearby neighborhood, you weren’t able to find a suitable parking space and submitted to paying the ridiculous fee for a night of parking. For many of us out there, money isn’t a luxury to spend, especially on fancy parking services, and the bigger the city is, the less likely hotels are going to have large parking lots for their guests.

This is a problem that many travelers face especially when some kind of event is happening and there are barely any parking space to go around for the residents themselves. What makes things even worse is that only the locals know where cheap areas to park are, and many hidden locations that could be used as a parking space is left untouched and travelers new to the city have to submit to the ridiculous parking prices of the official parking garages and valet services.

This no longer is a problem with AirGarage. They will literally dig into the city’s nook and crannies to find cheap and suitable parking locations offered up by the locals and you will be able to attend the conference, concert, or where ever you need to go without having to spend time stressing out about where you’re going to park your car.

According to Pitchbook.com, the startup has managed to raise more than $2.25 million from six investors and are looking into more deals to expand their horizons. Personally, I think this startup will make it really big and will likely be bought by a big company like Airbnb or an equivalent institution. Startup score: 9/10, definitely would invest if they go public.

 

https://angel.co/company/airgarageinc

https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/267107-59

https://airgara.ge/about