Latest in a series of partnerships with UK blue-chip brands reinforcing minicabit’s expansion in the fast growth £1 billion pre-booked ‘out of town’ trips mini-cab market minicabit, the UK’s leading online mini-cab price comparison and booking service, announces its contract with Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, following a successful trial period. The agreement, which enables travellers to instantly compare and book fixed minicab quotes across a nationwide network of licensed Private Hire Operators, is the latest in a series of partnerships with a range of UK blue-chip brands. The initial trial between Heathrow and minicabit saw strong demand from travellers booking mini-cabs to and from Heathrow across the UK, with over 85% of journeys outside a 15 mile radius. Welcoming over 73 million domestic and overseas passengers every year, Heathrow is the UK’s largest airport and demand for minicab services from both individual and business customers travelling into Greater London and more widely across the UK is expected to continue to grow.

minicabit’s comparison and booking service will be integrated into Heathrow’s mobile app to further enhance usability for customers when booking minicab services. Customers will be able to compare quotes from minicabit’s UK-wide network of over 650 operators and benefit from a significant range of operators based both in the Heathrow area and widely across the UK. minicabit is focusing on building partnerships across the airport sector and has already secured an agreement with London City Airport, the Capital’s most central airport renowned for business travellers. The company has also established a number of revenue enhancing partnerships with a range of UK blue-chip brands including the highly-regarded O2 Academy, which provides its customers with exclusive offers to use minicabit for both local and long distance trips from its 11 venues across the UK. Further partnerships also include the O2 Arena, one of the world’s most iconic entertainment venues, and Blenheim Palace, the renowned country house and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. In recent years, minicabit has enjoyed strong growth and success with revenues increasing eightfold year on year, bookings up by 150% in the past six months and the company is aiming to expand its network to 1,000 cab firms over the next two years. As well as growth in the Capital, minicabit is also targeting the regional markets and is currently generating almost 50% of its bookings outside the M25. minicabit’s innovative technology is widely recognised and in its first year of operations the company’s app was consistently promoted by Apple in their App Store. minicabit’s app has also recently been shortlisted by leading marketing publication The Drum for its highly sought after User Experience/ Usability award.

minicabit was founded by Amer Hasan, ex-Global Head of Apps and Internet Partnerships at Vodafone. The company’s board benefits from Steven Norris, Former UK Transport Minister, as a Board Adviser and Paul Lawton, O2 UK General Manager of Small and Medium Businesses, as a Non-Executive Director. Over the last five years, the company has attracted backing from global telecommunications company Telefonica O2’s Wayra Fund, leading crowdfunding platform Seedrs and high-net-worth investor syndicate Angels4Angels. Amer also recently appeared on successful BBC TV show ‘Dragons’ Den’ and received offers from three of the Dragons, the first app to win offers on the show. minicabit has set itself apart from the ultra-competitive ‘on-demand’ app sector that’s largely focused on short distances in the biggest cities. Instead, minicabit is leading the pre-booked cab sector and is capitalising on the 30 million ‘out of town’ trips taken annually by cab in the UK, which account for a combined value of £1 billion. The online taxi market offers tremendous growth potential and in the UK it has grown over the past five years to an estimated £9bn in 2015.

Amer Hasan, CEO and founder of minicabit, commented:

“We are delighted to be extending our successful trial with Heathrow into a partnership. The demand we have already received highlights the need for minicab services both to and from Heathrow and we have witnessed a great response from travellers across the UK, from locations as far as Newcastle, Plymouth and Lancaster. It is great to see companies like Heathrow embrace new digital services and collaborate with fast growth businesses like minicabit and for the several hundred mini-cab firms in our UK-wide network there are strong opportunities to benefit from the partnership and enhance revenues.”

ENDS