People’s Champion finalist 2017: Urban Massage

Offering expert massages at your convenience, does Europe’s number one on-demand massage app have what it takes to be your People’s Champion?

Start-up name: Urban Massage
Founders: Jack Tang and Giles Williams Started in: February 2014
Based in: London
Business description: Platform linking qualified therapists to users who want a spa-quality message at home or work.

Shortlisted category:

App of the Year

The Urban Massage story:

Still in their 20s, Young Guns and Forbes Under 30 listees Jack Tang and Giles Williams are starting and scaling their second start-up; Urban Massage.

Having sold their first venture – the studentjob.com – to Jobsite back in 2013, in 2014 the pair decided to leverage the growing on-demand economy by launching a service that would enable users to get a massage in the comfort of their own homes, hotel room or place of work.

Their service, which operates across desktop and a five-star reviewed app, enables users to arrange for a qualified and fully vetted massage therapist to come to you within an hour and promises to provide “a first-class experience” with treatments ranging from ‘classic’, to deep tissue and Thai.

The business model works by taking a portion of the massage checkout value. Each time a massage is booked and performed, the company charges a fee.

Backed by £5m in venture capital funding from high-profile investors including Felix, Firestartr, Passion Capital and Samos, the business operates in five cities internationally.

In the UK, you can book a massage therapist in London, Birmingham and Manchester, while Parisians and Austrians also benefit from the service.

Supported by a team of 47 employees – up from 25 staff in May last year – Urban Massage has now delivered over five million minutes of massage.

Its network of massage therapists exceeds more than 1,500 – this is three times the number on 2016 – and these therapists cover 345,00 kilometres.

The start-up is continuing to innovate too. It has recently added an iMessage App and allows users to send a digital massage gift card through this iMessage app or via Apply Pay.

Why Urban Massage made our shortlist:

The on-demand service app is booming and, in the space of three years, Urban Massage has established itself as a key player in the market.

Boasting monumental year-on-year growth, five-star reviews – it’s also rated 9.3 on Trust Pilot – and with £5m funding behind it, Tang and Williams can give themselves a pat on the back for their success to date!