Service Business of the Year 2014

Start-up name: CommuterClub
Founder: Petko Plachkov, 29
Started in: 2014
Based in: London
Business description: Peer-to-peer lender helping commuters save on season tickets

For the disgruntled commuter having to shell out thousands of pounds on annual season tickets to get them to and from work, CommuterClub is the service many have been waiting for.

Which is why the start-up won the Service Business of the Year, sponsored by Big Red Cloud, at the 2014 Startups Awards.

Annual season tickets for the price of 11 monthlies paid for by direct debit is the most astonishingly simple solution to a long-standing problem – yet it took CommuterClub’s existence to give commuters the option.

As founder Petko Platchkov exclaimed on the company’s Facebook page as the caption for the pic of him receiving his award from Big Red Cloud’s CEO Marc O’Dwyer, “Wahooo!”.

The average commuter spends more than £1,500 a year on their travel, but now, supported by peer-to-peer lending with a 5.6% interest rate, the vast expense has suddenly become more affordable, saving – on average – £200 for the average commuter each year.

Up against the excellent BIZZBY, which has been named by Startups.co.uk as one of the top 20 start-ups of 2014, and Dartmouth Partners, the recruitment agency founded by Growing Business Young Gun Logan Naidu, CommuterClub had to earn its win.

Where – and just how far – it goes from here is anyone’s guess, but it’s one journey we’d like to be on!