After closing a round with Florida Funders, Atlanta-based moving logistics company MyPorter is hitting the road with their fleet of trucks and expanding into Tampa.
Founded in 2018, MyPorter started as an idea years earlier when Robert Crump and John Foshee were college students at Vanderbilt dealing with the hassle of moving over the summer months.
Now headquartered in Atlanta, MyPorter provides individuals with safe moving and storage options. Their subscription-based moving model catalogs items, packs, and securely stores items at their 250,000-square-foot warehouse space for any length of time.
Ryan Whittemore, Chief Investment Officer for Florida Funders, says their hybrid venture capital fund was first introduced to the MyPorter team at Venture Atlanta.
“First and foremost Rob and John stood out so much for their financial acumen — they were as prepared as any founders that we see,” Whittemore told Hypepotamus. “It gave us great confidence that these guys would handle the capital well and build the business into something significant.
Crump was quick to point out that the coronavirus pandemic created both business hurdles and opportunities for MyPorter. According to Crump, MyPorter is now using video calls to help customers living abroad, and those with high-risk medical conditions, safely move and store items from a distance.
While the company is expanding in the wake of COVID uncertainty, Crump said that the pandemic has shown that their platform is indeed “industry agnostic” as they’ve also naturally expanded into the B2B market.
Companies have reached out to help with everything from downsizing office spaces to moving physical product and inventory across the city. The newly-launched business section of MyPorter’s website showcases that the company can help any person or company looking to streamline logistics around moving and storage.
While MyPorter will stay headquartered in Atlanta, the funds will help the company gain a foothold in the Tampa area.
Whittemore say this is another step Florida Funders is taking to “build Florida from the Sunshine State to the Startup State.” For him, the geographic expansion is a unique opportunity for MyPorter to showcase the platform they built while navigating the ins and outs of Atlanta’s streets.
“Atlanta is a large market with actually really tough traffic patterns, which helps us with how to coordinate logistics with how gridlocked Atlanta usually is,” co-founder Crump told Hypepotamus.
After Tampa, the company plans to expand across the Southeast and beyond.
