Global Brain has invested in Bounce, Inc., a luggage storage marketplace, through its KURONEKO Innovation Fund II (JPY 8 billion) and KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (JPY 30 billion). Bounce, available in over 4,000 cities, plans to expand in Japan and open a Tokyo office. Recognized as the fastest-growing privately-held travel company in the US by Inc5000, Bounce aims to leverage this investment for its market expansion in Japan.

Luggage storage as a vector for piling into convenience-based revenue opportunities in the business of global travel continues to put a spring in San Francisco-based Bounce‘s step. The startup has just tucked $19 million in Series B funding into its suitcase, with a plan to keep rolling revenue that’s grown 20x since its $12M Series A back in Spring 2022.Market expansion and adding more verticals are on the cards for Bounce for the next couple of years.Asia-Pacific is a major focus, according to co-founder and CEO Cody Candee, who says revenue from the region is growing by up to 4x year-over-year. He suggests the consumer behavior the startup is building towards is way more pronounced in markets like Japan, where coin lockers for luggage and convenience stores that offer much more than soda are established already.Figuring out where Bounce needs to expand to meet traveler demand isn’t tricky, as the startup can see the locations its users are searching for. “We have more than a million people that land on our website or app every month,” Candee noted, saying this lets it create a ranked list of which areas are in most demand.The startup’s big vision remains serving “cloud storage for the physical world,” as Candee puts it. That translates to a mobile app that lets users (mainly travelers) find and access services for storing and moving their stuff.Its partners are SMEs with bricks-and-mortar locations that have space to store luggage (and, in some cases, accept packages), and delivery firms that can move stuff around on demand. Bounce provides its 13,000+ partners with a revenue share for servicing its app users.With the fresh cash from the Series B, Bounce predicts it can reach around 30,000 locations by the end of 2026

Bounce, a U.S. startup specializing in luggage storage, secured a $19 million Series B funding round to boost global expansion. The company plans to extend services in Europe, the U.S., Brazil, and Asia, including Malaysia and South Korea. With 60% of its 102 employees based in Portugal, Bounce is hiring 21 more staff. The funding was led by Sapphire Sport, with participation from Thayer Ventures, FJ Labs, 20VC Growth, and Shilling, alongside existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst.