34. RideLink

Founders: Alexander Stevenson and Robert Bruce
Founded: January 2015
Website: www.ridelink.com

Peer-to-peer car sharing platform RideLink allows users rent their cars to other people.

Aiming to make cars to become more accessible to those who can’t afford to buy or manage a car full-time, RideLink also seeks to prevent more cars being bought and clogging up our roads and environment.

Founded by Alexander Stevenson and Robert Bruce, the pair have equally impressive backgrounds in tech and finance respectively.

Stevenson, who has a master’s degree in computer science, worked at Microsoft for several years on the Windows team before completing an MBA in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – with special emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation.

More recently, he served as a strategy consultant at Bain and Company, being their expert in technology strategy for the entire European/Middle East/Africa region.

While Bruce, who is a qualified accountant has worked as a financial controller at General Electrical, a VP finance at Lehman Brothers, and, most recently, a senior finance manager at Lloyds Banking Group.

With over 30,000 users spread across various cities, RideLink prides itself on being a much more accessible and user-friendly service than traditional car rental companies which typically have limited opening times and are restricted to airports and city centres.

Supporting a range of car makes and models – compared to a standard fleet – car owners get to set their own price and keep 70% of this. RideLink takes a 30% cut but this also covers the cost of insurance and roadside assistance for ever rental whereas those renting out their car are charged a 10% fee on top of the price of the rental car.

Having already expanded to Spain and Germany, “the Airbnb of car rental” looks set to give hitching a ride a whole new meaning.