CommuterClub

CommuterClub
Type of site
 Private
Available in Multilingual
Headquarters London, England
Area served England
Founder(s) Petko Plachkov, Imran Gulamhuseinwala
Key people Petko Plachkov (Founder, MD)
Imran Gulamhuseinwala (Founder, Chairman)
Services Financing
Employees 10-50 (2016)
Website www.commuterclub.co.uk
Registration Yes
Launched 2013 (2013)
Current status Active

CommuterClub (also known as Commuter Club) is a UK-based financial services company backed by British tennis player Andy Murray that retails and provides loans for annual season tickets, allowing commuters to pay for them in monthly instalments.[1] CommuterClub was founded in 2013 by Petko Plachkov and Imran Gulamhuseinwala.[2] Imran was honoured for his work in the FinTech industry in January 2017 in the Queen's Honour list with an OBE.[3] As of 2016 CommuterClub had over 10,000 customers and £20mn of loans to date.[4]

History

CommuterClub was founded by Petko Plachkov and Imran Gulamhuseinwala after they met while working in financial services at Resolution.[1] They found through a Freedom of Information request to TfL that fewer than 10% of the 2.5 million people travelling around the capital each day benefit from the savings of season tickets.[5] Following this finding, they created a monthly payment plan to offer access to annual season tickets for public transport.

CommuterClub works with RateSetter to provide its payment plans, using the peer-to-peer funding model. This is claimed to reduce costs for consumers.[6]

CommuterClub successfully raised over £2mn to date. It completed a £500,000 angel investment in early 2014[2] followed by an angel round of £750,000 in May 2015.[7] In July CommuterClub raised a further £1.2mn with the support of British tennis player Andy Murray.[4] Through its funding rounds CommuterClub has crowdfunded via the Seedrs platform. CommuterClub therefore is crowdfunded on both its loans and equity.[8]

The business expanded across the UK in 2015 covering Oyster and National Rail Season tickets.

Corporate

CommuterClub also works with SMEs to help them offer season tickets to staff as an employee benefit. CommuterClub automates the management of a season ticket scheme reducing cost and outsourcing a traditionally payroll managed solution. Current clients include Croydon Council, Airbnb and IntegraFin.[9]

Awards and recognition

CommuterClub has been named Startup of the week in Wired Magazine[1] as well as won awards at the Startups Awards for Service Business of the Year[10] and the Everline Real Business Awards for Disruptor of the Year.[11] CommuterClub also made FinTechCity's FinTech 50 in 2015.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Startup of the Week: CommuterClub". Wired UK. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 "CommuterClub and Ratesetter help commuters save money on train tickets". This is Money. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Members of UK tech community feature in New Year Honours list 2017". Tech City News. 2017-01-03. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  4. 1 2 "DAILY BRIEFING: Andy Murray serves up a £1.2m ace for CommuterClub". Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  5. ↑ Jamie Dunkley and Lucy Tobin (1 July 2014). "On the Money: Travelcards just one way to cut commuting costs". Evening Standard. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "CommuterClub and Ratesetter help commuters save money on train tickets". This is Money. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  7. ↑ "CommuterClub Offers Londoners Major Discounts on Annual Public Transport Tickets". Crowdfund Insider. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "CommuterClub Offers Londoners Major Discounts on Annual Public Transport Tickets". Crowdfund Insider. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  9. ↑ Green, Harriet (2016-10-24). "Meet the travelcard tycoons plotting the future of mobility". Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  10. ↑ "Winners 2014". Startups Awards by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  11. ↑ Hunter Ruthven. "50 of the most disruptive British businesses in 2015". realbusiness.co.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  12. ↑ Lynsey Barber. "London is home to Europe's hottest fintech startups as 24 of the FinTech50 come from the capital - City A.M." cityam.com. Retrieved 16 September 2015.

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