If you’re headed to North Ave. beach this summer and wish you had a ball to toss around or a speaker to jam to tunes on, a new Chicago startup is making it easier than ever to get those kinds of items on-demand.
BallBox, founded by Alexander Hejazi, makes electronic locker kiosks that allow consumers to rent sporting equipment and leisure items. Similar to an Amazon locker, BallBox just installed one of its kiosks at North Ave. beach this week. Inside, you can find numerous items available for rent, such as goggles and bluetooth speakers, as well as swan floaties.
“The whole idea of having these kiosks is to access items on site, on-demand, for how long you want and when you want,” said Hejazi, who previously worked at Chicago fintech startup Paro before launching BallBox.
Besides beaches, Hejazi said he plans to open BallBox kiosks in other public areas, like parks, hotels and large apartment complexes. Though the startup is based in Chicago, it opened its first kiosk at an outdoor mall near an apartment complex and hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earlier this month because the state’s warm climate makes it a year-round market.
Here’s how BallBox works: On each kiosk, a touch screen allows customers to make a profile, pick the items they wish to rent and pay for them using a credit card. (Users can also access BallBox through a mobile app.) Once payment is completed, a locker door with the item in it pops open, and if customers choose to, they can keep personal belongings in the empty locker while they use the rented item.
Consumers can rent items on an hourly or daily basis, and products are priced at about 20 percent of whatever its retail cost is. If renters fail to return items after their rental period, BallBox charges them the full retail price and a small restocking fee, Hejazi said.
BallBox received $10,000 worth of sport and leisure equipment from Dick’s Sporting Goods to put in its kiosks in exchange for experiential marketing, Hejazi said. After a consumer rents a Dick’s Sporting Goods item from BallBox, they receive a link to the item that allows them to purchase it if they wish.
BallBox participated in startAD last year, an accelerator program for seed-stage startup anchored at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus. And Hejazi said BallBox is currently applying to more accelerators to help grow the business. The startup closed a small seed round of $315,000 last year to build the first kiosks, which are manufactured in China.
“We see ourselves developing the best rental and return technology there is,” Hejazi said. “We see these kiosks as infrastructure we could use for a variety of other services as well."
Hejazi said he wants BallBox to expand into other verticals other than just leisure and sporting equipment. He envisions BallBox kiosks at apartment complexes containing more expensive items like drones, virtual reality sets and DSLR cameras.
Hejazi said BallBox also has a deal to open a kiosk at an apartment complex in Denver next month. And next summer, the startup plans to install four more kiosks at Chicago beaches and parks.
