MINICABIT SIGNS NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP WITH UK SELF-STORAGE LEADER BIG YELLOW

 

Partnership follows recent deal with Heathrow and enables Big Yellow’s customers in more than 35 UK cities to shift their stuff by cab to their local storage centre using minicabit’s website and app

 

minicabit’s 650-strong national cab operator network now covers more cities than any of its peers

 

minicabit, the UK’s leading online mini-cab price comparison and booking service, today announces a national partnership with Big Yellow, the UK’s favourite self-storage company. Big Yellow’s customers can now instantly compare and book fixed minicab quotes to and from 84 nationwide storage units in over 35 UK cities, as well as benefit from exclusive discounts and promotional offers on minicabit’s website and app.

Big Yellow believe this service is ideal for customers taking its smaller spaces. The data from the three month trial shows that 15% of bookings were made within 1 hour and the majority on the same day, demonstrating the demand for a quick, easy way for customers to get their goods to their local store.

The price comparison and minicab booking service developed by minicabit has now been integrated into Big Yellow’s website, enabling customers to conveniently compare quotes and book services direct through minicabit’s online service. minicabit’s app has also been customised to indicate relevant tips, such as for transporting items by cab to a local Big Yellow site.

minicabit’s industry leading ‘luggage selector’ feature, which instantly calculates the most appropriate size of cab for customers to book, has also been upgraded to allow users to enter popular household items such as boxes, TVs and even mattresses, enhancing the capability and flexibility of the service.

The initial trial saw strong demand from customers booking mini-cab services to and from local Big Yellow self-storage units across the UK, from as far as London and Edinburgh. Big Yellow customers without access to private transport, such as UK and international students, are expected to be significant users of the service.

minicabit’s contract with Big Yellow Plc is the latest in a series of successful partnerships with major blue chip brands, including most recently those with Barclays Pingit and Heathrow, which integrated minicabit’s comparison and booking service into its own website, as well as partnerships with the O2 Academy, London City Airport and Blenheim Palace, the 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. Over the past three months the average fare generated for its cab operator partners has risen to around £40, close to double the average fare generated by some of its rivals, and this demonstrates minicabit’s ability to generate high-value work for the minicab trade.

minicabit already covers more cities than any other online minicab price comparison booking engine and the company is aiming to expand its network to include 1,000 cab firms over the next year. So far this year, some 250 minicab operators have already applied to join the platform, with 150 accepted after meeting the strict review criteria, highlighting how smart minicab firms are recognising the added value minicabit can bring and are coalescing around the platform.

With much of the attention of the online cab space focused on the Capital, minicabit is also targeting the regional markets with 60% of its network of cab operators already based 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 is also on Android phones and was recently shortlisted by leading marketing publication The Drum for its highly sought after User Experience/ Usability award.

The business 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 mobile 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 also capitalising on the 30 million ‘out of town’ trips taken annually by cab across the UK, which account for a combined value of £1 billion. The online cab market offers tremendous growth potential and in the UK it has grown over the past five years to an estimated £9bn in 2015.

 

Tom Wilcockson, Head of New Business Development Big Yellow Self-Storage, commented:

 

“We work hard to ensure that storing at Big Yellow is easy. We already partner with removal and van hire companies so adding the option to book a cab to transport their items to their local Big Yellow store whilst on our website is compelling. Partnering with minicabit instantly gives us UK-wide reach across the minicab sector, and avoids the need for us to technically integrate with each minicab firm.”

 

Amer Hasan, CEO and founder of minicabit, commented:

 

“With our cab bookings having included requests to transport TVs and clothes bags for moving house, rather than just suitcases to an airport, minicabit is transforming what cabs are booked for online. So we’re delighted to partner with Big Yellow Plc, not only the largest player in the fast-growth UK self-storage market but the sector’s leading innovator too. This new collaboration makes shifting your stuff easy to do with just a few clicks on our website or a few taps on our app. Look out for more contracts with blue-chip companies later this year that enable the country’s cab firms to generate more business in this digital revolution.”

 

 

James Tuckett, CEO of investUP, shares his insights crowdfunding in 2015.

 

 

2015 is crowdfunding’s watershed year

 

When new industries are born they either die quickly, snuffled out by growing pains, or they burst into the scene with furious pace. The more innovative an idea, the harder it can be to find real adoption. First you need to educate, build within rules, which were often not designed for you and lastly wait for punters to catch on/up and adopt. Crowdfunding is in the middle of this exact process, transitioning from being a clever idea, into a real mechanism for individuals and businesses to raise money. So here are the top 3 reasons why 2015 is proving crowdfunding’s watershed point.

 

1. UK government support is awesome

Political support for the alternative finance sector has been enduring and constant. The Chancellor George Osborne seems super-keen to bring alternative finance into the mainstream. With his post-election Budget, the announcement of the Innovative Finance ISA demonstrates this desire admirably. In fact, with the UK discovering a world-leading niche with the FinTech sector, support for new-fangled tech and finance sectors is likely to continue to grow, even potentially through direct government investment. Further tax incentives, changes in the way banks treat failed loan application and greater awareness at the very top, will ensure continued strength in the already rapidly growing industry.

2. The Innovative Finance ISA is a BIG deal

The UK Government recently announced the launch of the Innovative Finance ISA, called by the industry the IFISA, or the far more colloquial crowdISA. This will be based on all investment types of crowdfunding (so lending to people, businesses and buying shares). The new ISA will not sit under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). It also recognises that crowdfunding is a set of distinct asset classes, with a unique risk profile. The massiveness of this one really must not be understated. The crowdISA will allow consumers to lend or invest up to £15,240 a year tax free, via either individual crowdfunding sites, or across lots of them, to individuals and businesses. Crowdfunding will suddenly have access to a slice of the £50bn a year of retail money, which goes into the ISA pot. By all accounts this will be a huge transformation within the crowdfunding world, as well as signalling that crowdfunding is going mainstream. Public awareness of crowdfunding will be transformed due to this change.

3. Global crowdfunding is continuing to grow massively

Whilst the UK is the most advanced western crowdfunding marketplace, worldwide crowdfunding is catching up. Relatively the US is starting to really pick up the pace. With Nesta.org in November 2014 suggested that the 2015 alternative finance market in the UK alone would reach £4.4bn, the global figures are predicted by Massolution to double to $34.4bn. The EU is also pushing new boundaries, with crowdfunding developing, although this is still in its infancy.  

What does the future hold for crowdfunding?

 

Crowdfunding is undergoing huge growth. This is expected to start levelling off by 2020. By this point crowdfunding will be mainstream, with alternative finance really being anything but alternative. As investors better understand the risk profile of the industry, so to will the FCA. Having both parties better understand the losses as well as potential gains one can make will only strengthen the sector. Sites which offer greater portfolio diversification with tools to support this will win. Millennial adoption of the alternative finance mechanisms will ensure that they become the majority retail user.

 

 

TIME INVESTMENTS LAUNCHES FIRST LONG INCOME COMMERCIAL PROPERTY FUND FOR RETAIL INVESTORS

 

TIME strengthens investment team with appointment of Patrick Grant from CBRE

TIME Investments has launched TIME:Commercial Freehold (“the Fund”), which offers retail investors the opportunity for the first time to derive stable, long-term income from investments in commercial freeholds.

The Fund leverages TIME Investments’ extensive experience to deliver a target distribution of 4% per annum with the potential for capital growth.  Until this launch, long income commercial property funds were only available via funds aimed at institutional investors such as insurance companies and pension funds.

TIME:Commercial Freehold will invest approximately 50/50 in commercial freeholds with ground rents and commercial freeholds with long leases in the UK.

The Fund will be structured as a Property Authorised Investment Fund: an Open-Ended Investment Company (OEIC) specifically designed for FCA-authorised property investments. The tax benefits of a PAIF are similar to those of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), including not being subject to tax on capital gains within the Fund. UK investors are taxed as if they had invested directly in the underlying assets. The Fund will also benefit from NURS classification, as an authorised fund thereby offering enhanced investor protection.

Commercial freeholds with ground rents benefit from long leases (typically over 60 years) on land and buildings, where a rent is paid to the freeholder by a leaseholder, who may sublet the property to a tenant. Ground rents are typically increased on a regular basis, either with fixed or RPI linkages, giving them in-built protection against inflation. The freeholder typically receives ground rents between 15% and 30% of the full market rent and has full legal title on the property. Any failure to pay the ground rent means the full benefit of the property reverts to the freeholder. Given the value of the property can be several times that of the freehold, the investment is over-collateralised. Furthermore, the leaseholder is responsible for maintaining the property so these costs do not affect the return to the freeholder.

Commercial freeholds with long leases are typically freehold properties let to commercial tenants at market rent for periods of over 20 years. The security within these investments is primarily linked to the quality of the tenant, the property and the location. Commercial freeholds with long leases tend to offer a higher income return compared to commercial freehold with ground rents. Compared to traditional commercial property investments with shorter leases they offer greater income security due to the longer length of lease, and will often have fixed or inflation-linked rental uplifts. 

The Fund will be managed by Nigel Ashfield, Managing Director of TIME Investments and Patrick Grant, Acquisitions and Portfolio Director, who has joined the firm from CBRE.  Patrick has 20 years’ experience of advising institutional investors in long income property. Nigel and Patrick will be supported by an experienced team to assist with the acquisition and management of the properties. 

Nigel Ashfield and the TIME Investments team also manage the £230 million TIME:Freehold fund, which has built a strong 22 year track record of delivering a stable income stream and capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of UK residential property freehold ground rents. 

Nigel Ashfield commented: “Many retail investors seek predictable income returns, continuous liquidity, inflation protection and prospects for capital growth. TIME:Commercial Freehold has been developed to meet each of these requirements by offering retail investors access to a property sector that has until now been restricted exclusively to institutions.  The target distribution of 4% per annum is significantly in excess of the income available from other long income investments such as gilts and the targeted property has shown a lower sensitivity to changing interest rates.” 

The Fund has 18 retail and institutional share classes. The minimum investment for retail investors, including annual management charge for the retail class is 1% and there is an initial charge discounted to 0.5%.

TIME:Commercial Freehold may be suitable for direct retail investors, ISAs, SIPPs and SSASs, offshore bonds and family offices.

TIME Investments is owned by Alpha Real Capital LLP, the co-investing institutional real estate investment manager with c£1 billion in assets under management.

For further information on TIME Investments, visit www.time-investments.com.

 

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISABLED ENTREPRENEURS.
 

 

 

Applications now open for £50,000 Stelios Award

for Disabled Entrepreneurs in the UK 2015

 

 

·         The £50,000 award recognises talents of established business owners with a disability or long-term health condition.

·         The cash prize is the largest of its kind for disabled entrepreneurs.

·         The award is run in conjunction with Leonard Cheshire Disability, the UK’s leading disability charity.

·         Award is personally chosen and presented by easyjet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou at a special ceremony in London on November 4th.

 

 

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and Leonard Cheshire Disability are pleased to invite applications for the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs 2015 worth £50,000.

 

The award, jointly run by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation (www.stelios.com) and the charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, (www.LeonardCheshire.org) recognises the achievements of disabled entrepreneurs who have overcome challenges to set up their own company and excel in their chosen business field. Now in its ninth year, past winners have been drawn from the travel agency, homebuild and IT sectors as well as companies specialising in disability/mobility aids.

 

Applications are now being accepted online at www.leonardcheshire.org  The deadline for all applications is Friday 18 September 2015.

 

Sir Stelios said: "Creating opportunities for disabled people facing discrimination in business is essential. The Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs highlights their achievements and contribution to society.

 

We want to hear from talented disabled entrepreneurs who are able to show they have got what it takes to run a successful business and meet a real need in the market.”

 

Clare Pelham, Chief Executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability said: "We are delighted to work with Sir Stelios on an award that celebrates the remarkable achievements of disabled entrepreneurs.

 

"I know there are many talented and successful disabled entrepreneurs out there. I urge them to take advantage of this unique opportunity for valuable recognition of their business and skills - in cash and publicity - and apply."

 

Last year's winner, Ben Wolfenden said: “Winning the 2014 award has meant so much to me both financially and personally. I've been able to solidify the team and our offering, grow some fantastic new clients and build a better working environment for my health.”

 

Ben said that despite undergoing a gruelling regime of medication and five hours of physiotherapy every day, he and his team have grown Visibilis by over 1000% in the year from 2012 to 2013, with 2014 exceeding expectations.

 

He added, “I would urge anyone with a disability, whether you see yourself as an entrepreneur or not, to apply and let Stelios and his team decide!”