MINICABIT SECURES FURTHER SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT FROM KKR UK BUYOUT BOSS DOMINIC MURPHY AND EX-CANDOVER PARTNERS CHAIRMAN MAREK GUMIENNY

Ability to attract investment from such high-calibre professionals so soon after minicabit’s latest successful funding round underlines the attractiveness of the company’s business model

minicabit, the UK’s leading online mini-cab price comparison and booking service, today announces that following its heavily oversubscribed funding round in October, it has raised a further significant investment from Dominic Murphy, UK Head of KKR one of the biggest global buyout firms, and Marek Gumienny, former chairman of Candover Partners. This additional investment will help support minicabit’s drive to achieve its target of £100m in annual UK revenues by 2020. 

Attracting such high-profile investors underlines the appeal of minicabit’s distinct business model, strong market position and exciting growth prospects. Recognised as one of most successful figures in the buyout market, Dominic Murphy played a significant role in some of KKR’s most recent high-profile investments, including Alliance Boots and The Hut Group. Marek Gumienny, the former chairman of Candover Partners and now founding director of 24 Haymarket private capital, is one of the UK’s most astute and successful business investors with over 25 years of private equity experience.

This fresh investment builds on the £1.4 million minicabit secured in its most recent funding round led by Hambro Perks, whose portfolio includes disruptive on-demand dry-cleaning app Laundrapp, alongside the team at Oakley Capital, which previously advised on the flotation of JustEat and investment in The Hut Group. Prior to this, minicabit attracted the backing of Telefonica O2’s Wayra Fund, crowdfunding site Seedrs, investor syndicate Angels4Angels and was also the first app to win offers on BBC TV’s ‘Dragons’ Den’, from three of the Dragons.

minicabit, which last month won ‘App of the Year’ at the Start-ups Awards 2015, will use this most recent funding to support its next phase of growth, including enhancing its innovative technology-enabled platform and app, implementing new initiatives to improve consumer choice and expanding its range of cab fleets UK wide. 

Over the next year, minicabit has committed to doubling the number of its partner cab fleets in its national cab network from 700 currently, to account for about a quarter of all cab fleets in the UK. The company has already attracted 1 in 10 of the UK’s Cab Operators, covering more cities than any of its rivals, with 250 firms applying to join this year alone. Longer-term, minicabit will further diversify the range of vehicle types that can be booked on its platform to include, for instance, minibuses and stretch limos.

minicabit is enjoying strong growth and success, with bookings and revenues up by 100% over the first half of this year. Driven by its proven business model and compelling market proposition, minicabit is the only major player in the online cab space to have reached break even, having previously raised minimal start-up capital.Over the last four years, the company has signed partnership agreements with a number of major blue-chip brands, including Heathrow Airport, Barclays Pingit, Big Yellow Self Storage Plc, The O2 Arena and London City Airport.

minicabit was founded by Amer Hasan, ex-Global Head of Apps and Internet Partnerships at Vodafone and the Company’s board includes leading British business figures.

Amer Hasan, CEO and founder of minicabit, commented:

“Having only just completed a very successful funding round, which included a number of the UK’s leading business figures, we are really delighted to have secured the support of two investors of the stature of Dominic and Marek.

We now have backing for the company from some of the UK’s smartest and savvy financial and tech investors which demonstrates their faith in minicabit’s distinct business model and belief that the firm will be one of the winners in the taxicab-tech arena. This will further our crusade to offer customers more choice whilst enabling cab operators UK-wide to enhance their businesses using our technology.”

Newly launched FSB energy could help SMEs cut their energy bills by a quarter

Small businesses can reduce average energy bills by almost a quarter with new FSB Energy service

• FSB launches new service where members could reduce the cost of gas and electricity bills by 23%, shaving nearly £1,000 per year off the average company bill

• 70 per cent of businesses experience difficulty comparing energy tariffs and 43 per cent have never switched supplier

• Main obstacles to businesses becoming energy efficient are working from leased or rented premises, lack of concern around energy costs and lack of capital for energy efficiency investment

Experts in business, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), is launching a new service to help its members reduce their gas and electricity bills. Members using the service could cut approximately a quarter (23 per cent) off their annual energy bill1.

FSB’s new Energy service (www.fsbenergy.org.uk) is part of a concerted drive by FSB to help smaller businesses reduce their energy costs. The organisation is also representing the interests of smaller businesses by responding to the Competition & Markets Authority’s (CMA) investigation into the energy market and creating a resource hub on its new website offering advice on energy efficiency measures.

The new service enables FSB members to obtain advice on competitive rates for their utilities, identify the annual saving achievable by switching tariffs and even have new contracts arranged for them if requested. It is born out of research suggesting that smaller businesses are being failed by the energy market, with 70 per cent of these businesses2 experiencing difficulty comparing energy tariffs and 43 per cent saying they have never switched supplier.

The new service will be run on behalf of FSB by business cost saving champion Make it Cheaper.  It could generate annual average savings of 23 per cent for new customers switching their gas and electricity provider, equivalent to £973 off the £4,243 average annual energy bill of an FSB member1.

FSB Energy will also take care of the paperwork involved in switching - such as terminating existing contracts on behalf of members - saving them time and hassle in the process. And the service reminds members when their fixed price periods end to make sure they never ‘default’ on to more expensive rates.

The CMA, which is preparing to conclude its investigation into the energy market, says SMEs in the UK pay around £500 million more a year than if competition was functioning effectively. It has voiced concern that 45 per cent of SMEs have been placed on a default tariff – one that has not been actively negotiated – which can be more than twice as expensive as a negotiated tariff4.

Dave Stallon, Operations Director at FSB, said: “Energy is an increasingly important issue for smaller businesses. There are many ways they can make substantial savings through the implementation of energy efficiency measures as well as ensuring they get the best tariff they can on their gas and electricity. Many smaller businesses, however, either don’t believe they can make substantial savings or haven’t trusted the market and the system enough to engage in the process.

“Our new service is designed to give smaller business owners easy to use advice they can trust, to enable them to make savings with the minimum of fuss. We are also very actively engaged with the CMA to improve the energy market for smaller businesses and are offering resources and advice on energy efficiency. In combination, we are confident that our initiatives can help to make a significant difference to smaller businesses’ energy bills.”

Energy efficiency

In parallel with the establishment of FSB’s new Energy service, the organisation is promoting the benefits of smaller businesses introducing energy efficiency measures. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) estimates that the average SME could reduce its energy bill by 18-25 per cent by installing energy efficiency measures with an average payback of less than 1.5 years5.

However, while FSB research3 demonstrates that 90 per cent of businesses want to be energy efficient and 58 per cent of businesses surveyed have already made changes to improve their energy efficiency, there are major obstacles that need to be overcome.

Almost half (45%) of businesses identified operating from leased or rented premises as one of the biggest obstacles preventing companies becoming energy efficient.  Other barriers identified include a lack of concern around energy costs (45 per cent) and a lack of capital for energy efficiency investment (29 per cent).

The most widely reported energy efficiency measures already taken were: the installation of more efficient lights, lamps and bulbs (40 per cent); the introduction of switch off/turn down policies (23 per cent); and improved insulation (23 per cent).

FSB offers membership packages from £130. Members get an exclusive package of great value business services including advice, financial products and support. These cover a wide range of benefits such as tax, legal and HR, local network groups, business banking and mentoring.

Established over 40 years ago to help its members succeed in business, FSB is a non-profit making organisation that’s run by members, for members.