User:Cjlinn90/Minicabster

Brooke Pursey

Founder Brooke Pursey..... Prior to starting Minicabster, Pursey had worked in the property sector and ran a small catering business.

Foundations

Pursey explained that he was very attracted in starting his own business because it involved "being in control of your own destiny". Funding was sourced from several sources, including David Butress (CEO of Just Eat), Daniel McPherson (founder of Launcha) and Tom Singh (founder of New Look)

Operations

Minicabster was created in 2011 under the name of 'Anycabs', before rebranding in 2013. It is a minicab price-comparison and booking company working out of London, Manchester and Birmingham, at the time of writing. It is comprised of more than 10,000 licensed minicabs in its database, which offer to provide a range of quotes for journeys.

The company allows its users to compare quotes for journeys - from which the results "will be displayed in real-time" - and to book a licensed minicab.

Rebranding

In 2013, AnyCabs rebranded into Minicabster. This decision resulted out of the need for a "powerful, personable and memorable business name that ... has a strong link to [the] industry".

Technology

Minicabster relies heavily on information technlogy to streamline the process of managing the large number of drivers and bookings. The company adopted a package of postcode data from MapMechanics and, by utilising this with their existing IT system, Minicabster could bring the address lookup system in-house.

The company has also released a app for iOS and, within a week of launching, the app was featured in the Guardian Top 30 new iOS and Android apps of the week The app subsequently received the approval of Theo Paphitis (Dragons Den) by winning his 'Small Business Sunday' Twitter competition.