No Slowing Down for Zippy Shell

Zippy Shell Incorporated is in for its biggest move yet. Calling itself the fastest growing moving-and-storage company in the nation, the Washington Harbour-based business has partnered with Virgo Investment Group to accelerate its already flourishing business with a $25-million investment plan.

The capital infusion comes not only at the start of summer, peak moving season, but at a critical time for Zippy Shell, which launched in 2010.

Zippy Shell CEO Rick Del Sontro is enthusiastic about the partnership. “The Virgo team has been great to work with and has already provided significant strategic relationships to move our brand, and business, to the next level,” he said. “The idea behind the investment is to accelerate growth.”

Del Sontro expects this growth to stem from the company’s service concept. Zippy Shell offers a system in which storage containers are delivered directly to the customer’s home, with pick-up arranged by a simple phone call. “Zippy Shell bridges the gap of convenience and price,” Del Sontro said.

While building Zippy Shell into a national brand never seemed out of the question to Del Sontro, he acknowledges that the effort was quite costly, and difficult to achieve in the enterprise’s first few years. But now, anything is possible.

Following the announcement of their partnership with Virgo, Zippy Shell appointed James S. Simpson to the company’s board of directors. Simpson served under former President George W. Bush as administrator of the Federal Transit Administration.

Simpson, who also served as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, and was a commissioner of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York, appears to be the perfect fit for the position.

“James has been around the industry for quite a long time. He obviously knows the transportation industry well,” said Del Sontro. He added that Simpson is “a practical businessman.”

Simpson is equally excited about the venture. “Zippy Shell’s business model is a game-changer, and will certainly disrupt the storage and moving industry for the better. Zippy Shell is the definition of storage-and-moving 2.0,” he said in a statement.

Having been ranked in Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 for two consecutive years, Zippy Shell is a force to be reckoned with. The company’s first priority, according to Del Sontro, is a tremendous U.S. expansion over the next three to five years. The next step? Transforming Zippy Shell into an international business, which, Del Sontro claimed, is “logical and likely to happen.”

Yet no matter how far the Zippy Shell franchise goes, it will always be rooted in Georgetown. Zippy Shell caters its business model to the fast-paced lives of the residents of its headquarters city. With permits allowing their trailers to be parked anywhere in the District, Zippy Shell is redefining what it means to live in a mobile world.