How did you become interested in the mobility sector?
My business partner asked me to invest alongside him in a regional taxi operator in 2012. My initial reaction was “no thanks” but I ended up commissioning some market research. The findings were really exciting given the size, fragmentation and technology potential. They did also mention a disruptive start-up in California called Uber but not too much was made of that at the time!
The obvious question then - what about Uber?
Uber has been operating in our core regions for over six years now and we have grown across the board alongside them. Part of our business plays outside of their core market, providing much more bespoke services for corporate and public sector accounts, operating in lower density regions and for a different passenger profile. However, a material part does compete head on, and we have done this very successfully with strong tech and user experience combined with our significant scale. The reality is we have benefitted from them growing and developing the market on a national scale.
What have you enjoyed most about your experience with Veezu?
We’ve built a great team with a very interesting blend of skillsets, combining industry veterans who have been managing leading taxi operators for decades with technology, M&A and professional capabilities. This has enabled us to build a highly scalable platform with national reach that has expanded quickly across the UK whilst maintaining a local community and service orientated focus. This is critical to ensuring leading driver and passenger experience.
What are you most excited about?
Now we are emerging from Covid, going full tilt on our growth and strategic initiatives. Alongside the firepower we now have for the buy-and-build, we have such significant organic growth opportunities - leveraging our data, investing more in our account side and continuing to develop our user experience.
How has the journey with MML been so far (no pun intended!)?
It’s already been busy. We’ve done a few more acquisitions, are onto the next phase of the technology roadmap and the data project is up and running in amongst lots of other initiatives. However, the level of support and regular interaction with the MML team has been great and actually exceeded my expectations.