It’s a feeling every young person is familiar with. You just need to print that one resume copy before dashing out the door, or maybe get the crumbs off of your floor before your parents visit, or even just steam your shirt before logging onto a Zoom interview. Then you remember: You never splurged on a printer, forgot to ask that guy down the hall for a vacuum, or didn’t get that steamer your mom insisted you would need for college. And even if you had purchased these items, your cramped apartment barely has room for them.
That’s where Tulu comes in. This New York City–based startup is introducing the concept of the "usage economy" to university students, apartment dwellers, and hotel guests worldwide. Tulu offers the convenience of renting essentials and luxury items, as well as providing a selection of single–use products for purchase. All of these can be accessed through the app and are stored in easily accessible locations such as lobbies, while stored in units that can best be described as West Elm curio cabinets meet LED–lit vending machines. The company operates in 26 countries and has 180 locations listed on its app. Tulu recently opened its first Philadelphia locations in the Mason on Chestnut in West Philadelphia.
Tulu is the brainchild of Yael Shemer, 30, and Yishai Lehavi, 37, who met at a business accelerator program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “My co–founder and I are both millennials. We built the company from a real need we've had, as we've progressed our lives and moved from one place to the other,” says co–founder and CCO Yael. “Our generation is very dynamic. And Gen Zs are even more dynamic. We move apartments, and we're seeking convenience. The intersection of real estate and consumerism and the new generation is very, very pivotal to creating services.”
Yael explains Tulu's four pillars of business. The first of which is the general rental system, through which users can rent a range of items from vacuums to VR Headsets. Then, there is Tulu Ride, which offers scooters and bicycles users can rent and return. Tulu’s third pillar is its on–demand printing service, through which members can print using an in–unit printer. Finally, there is Tulu Shop, through which users can buy items such as ice cream, toilet paper, and even condoms in some locations.
Tulu has curated the items provided in its platform depending on the location. In hotels, the company sees a high use of experiential items, such as Polaroid cameras, VR headsets, and scooters. In residential buildings, there is a stronger need for items needed for everyday activities such as cleaning or watching TV. Tulu is also able to offer bulkier items that can take up precious storage space in student housing or residential apartments, like movie projectors, steamers, and stacks of bored games.
While some may shudder at the thought of sharing personal items like massage guns or hair dryers, Tulu incorporates "IoT," internet of things, through which cameras monitor the quality of items available for rent.
“We have the capacity to take pictures after every transaction, and then monitor these pictures. We have smart cameras, and we have IoT devices in our units. At all times, we know what's in the unit and what needs to get stocked,” Yael explains. This allows Tulu to create a protocol for what is necessary to ensure the rented item is ready to be used the next time a person rents it.
In some cities, Tulu has its own operations team to ensure items are well–maintained and units are adequately stocked, while in others, Tulu uses local vendors to complete these same tasks. It collaborates with external partners through a program known as "Tulu Friends." Through this initiative, individuals (often from the buildings Tulu operates in) are onboarded into Tulu’s system. They can assist the company with tasks like restocking. For the company, this serves as a means to engage with the local community on a hyper–local level.
In apartments and hotels, numerous individuals use Tulu's items hundreds of times each week. Yael points out that identifying durable items capable of enduring such high rates of use is challenging, as many household products are designed for the linear economy, in which products are designed to be used by a single person or family and disposed of after a number of months or years. “We're working with brands on really reimagining what items can look like and choosing the best brands with durable items that can match our offering,” she says. Today, for example, Tulu is working with brands including Bosch and Phillips to imagine items the company will carry in the future.
Using Tulu can be deeply intimate, as users bring products into their own homes, even though hundreds of people use them. Company leadership is aware of this relationship and operates with privacy in mind. “The privacy of our members is the most important thing to us. So even if we look at data, it's always anonymized. It's never invasive, and we never give it to third parties. We always analyze the data in house,” Yael explains. Tulu’s insights on data are then relayed directly to brands.
Technology is woven into Tulu’s design. Tulu’s website promises partnering brands that it carries the chance to “boosts your brand identity and loyalty by exposing your products to countless tenants.” Its “smart system” allows Tulu to analyze product usage data, create reports on frequency and usage times, user demographics, types and frequency of failures, and shelf life.
Using the Tulu platform is relatively seamless. Users can select the item they want through the app. With a push of a button, the Tulu unit chimes, and a lock on the clear, acetate door in front of your desired item clicks open. The first hour of use for most of its reusable items is free, with additional charges for more time. In Philadelphia, users can pay a six–month fee of $30 or a monthly fee of $10 for access to most of the rentable items free of charge for the first hour of use. Inside of the Mason’s Tulu unit, food items are comparable to that of a traditional vending machine, with a coke selling for $1.50 and M&Ms at $1.75. While prices of other items can raise eyebrows—a roll of Betterway bamboo toilet paper is $2.50 and a bag of Tate's cookies retail for $8—users are paying for the convenience of accessing these items in their lobby.
Beyond big name brands, Tulu also offers local brands in some units, specifically in relation to Tulu Shop. In numerous cities, Tulu procures items from local businesses, forging partnerships such as those with coffee shops in New York City.
Whether access to Tulu will replace the vacuum cleaner taking up half the space in your closet or late-night runs to your local bodega remains yet to be seen. But for now, with over 200,000 hours of product use, customers are using Tulu—and enjoying it. The appreciation for Tulu’s services runs deep with customers. After four years of Tulu offering services, customers have become devoted fans of the company. “One of the most amazing things with our growth has been seeing people moving from one building and then say, ‘Hey, I want this [in] my new building,’” Yael says. Tulu is then able to partner with new property managers.
With locations in Philadelphia and across the globe, Tulu continues to grow. Locally, the company is opening a new location in Kensington in The Ray and in King of Prussia in Indigo. The company has plans to open more in the area over the next 12 months. “We're very excited about cities like Philly,” says Yael. “We're excited about areas where there's students, where there's young professionals, and where there's landlords that are understanding that in today's living experience, it's just no longer enough for us to just pay rent, we want to get more out of the buildings we live in.”
