Last week we reported that on-demand valet startup Luxe had raised $20 million in Series A funding from Venrock Partners and Redpoint Ventures to expand its service into new markets. Today the company is confirming that funding, while also providing a bit more detail about where and how it hopes to grow.
First though, let’s talk about how Luxe was able to raise so much money so quickly. After all, Luxe is only about six months old, having officially launched last October. It’s been operational in just two markets — San Francisco and Los Angeles — since then, and is currently only available on iOS devices.
Even so, Luxe is seeing extremely fast growth in those two cities. Luxe claims 90 percent month-over-month customer growth, but is seeing even greater transaction growth, thanks in part to a high percentage of repeat customers coming back and using the service multiple times a week.
In fact, it’s that massive demand which has led Luxe to hold off on releasing its Android app. According to Luxe CEO Curtis Lee, the app has been done for two months but Luxe was concerned it wouldn’t have the supply necessary to meet an influx of new Android customers. That’s no longer the case, as Luxe is finally releasing the Android version of its app today.
Getting on Android is low-hanging fruit when it comes to Luxe’s growth strategy, however. The bigger opportunity is about making the on-demand valet service available in other cities around the U.S. On that front, the company will follow in the footsteps of on-demand companies like Uber and Instacart in rolling out on a city-by-city basis.
The next three markets Luxe plans to enter are Boston, Chicago and Seattle, and the company expects to have service available in all three by the end of April. In the meantime, it’ll be ramping up its valet supply and opening up in beta over the coming weeks.
The new funding will be used to support that push, along with the hire of Ro Choy as the company’s chief business officer. Choy has served in COO or CRO roles at multiple startups, including RockYou, Formspring, and most recently BitTorrent. According to Lee, Choy’s job at Luxe will be to analyze the business and make tweaks to grow demand, while COO Greg Zanghi handles the operational side of the company.
Luxe has raised $25.5 million since being founded, with other investors that include Google Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, and Data Collective. With the latest funding, Venrock’s Brian Ascher and Redpoint’s Ryan Sarver will join the company’s board.
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