Lugsto wants you to roam around luggage-free with their on-demand storage options

On-demand cloakroom service in India is pretty much unheard of, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any use cases for this. Say you have a meeting in another city and want to return the same day. Most likely you will be carrying your luggage pretty much everywhere you travel in the city on that day. It’s a hassle, for sure. 

Noida-based Lugsto is trying to address this gap in the travel industry through its online platform. Founded in 2018 by Manish Agarwal, Alok Goel, Mukesh Goel, and Vidyanand Tripathi, Lugsto describes itself as a short-term luggage storage service provider. 

Lugsto is fairly simple. One can go to Lugsto to book the nearest storage store. Once the booking is complete, they get the store address over email. Visit the storage store, and hand over their luggage by furnishing the booking details and photo ID, which could be either a PAN card, passport, or Aadhar. Lugsto charges customers per-luggage-per-day basis with prices varying with location.

Since the launch, Lugsto has expanded its services to 200 stores across 40 cities in India. The company works with partners such as hotels to provide storage services. It’s worth noting that you don’t need to book accommodation at the hotel to get the luggage storage service from Lugsto. The firm has also partnered with the Indian Railways to provide luggage storage service at select stations. The company claims to have handled over 250,000 bags between July 2019 and August 2022.

Manish, who previously worked at IndiaMart for over a decade, told Entrackr that the idea for short-term luggage storage service came from his travel experiences. “When I used to visit the offices in Maharashtra, I had to carry luggage everywhere,” he added. “It felt strange to carry luggage to professional meetings.” 

As mentioned earlier, there aren’t a lot of short-term storage service providers in India except a few relatively unknown names, such as stownest and cloakbuddy. In the West, however, there are quite a few VC-funded startups, such as Stasher, Bounce, Vertoe, and Luggage Hero. The pick of the lot is Bounce, which raised $12 million in a series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz in April.

Co-founder Mukesh Goel told Entrackr that the company is looking to raise fresh funds soon. The objective of the fundraise is to expand the company’s presence in India. To date, the company has raised Rs 5.5 million ($66,800) from family and friends. 

They are also planning to add new features such as: “freshen up service.” “For example, a customer does not need a room for the entire day but just a shower and a cup of coffee. We will tie up with hotels to allow the customer to use a room for a couple of hours. Summing up, a customer can drop their luggage and use freshen up service and check out from the hotel,” he added. Lugsto is also working on luggage pick-up and drop service for select customers.