MATTHEW GOODMAN
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THE co-founder of travel firm Lastminute.com, Brent Hoberman, is among the backers of a new website that aims to make the process of moving home less stressful.
Moveme.com has raised almost £1m of funding from Hoberman, Advent Venture Partners and Accelerator, an investment firm set up by father-and-son entrepreneurs Robin and Saul Klein.
The site works by creating a bespoke diary of all the things someone moving house needs to arrange, such as notifying utility companies of the change of address. It then automatically provides all the relevant documents you should send out as and when they are needed.
Users can also book a range of services via the site, such as removal men and insurance. The site makes its money by collecting a booking fee. Customers who arrange a service via the site can also expect to pay less than if they went to a removals provider direct.
Mark Cunningham, one of the co-founders, said: “We are trying to save time and money for people who are moving house.”
Cunningham, a data analysis specialist, set up Moveme.com with his business partner Keith McNeilly, an expert in managing customer relationships. They have spent the past two years working on the site’s development and hope to tap into a significant number of the estimated 6m people per year who move home.
While there are websites that will help with things such as forwarding post after you move house, Cunningham believes there are no firms providing as comprehensive a range of services as his site.
Other ventures backed by Hoberman include Wayn.com, a networking site.
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So, how do the backers get their money back - by gearing the business up to make serious profits from users (through services they use on the site)
Companies co-owner by venture capital firms or investment angels are dubious at best - they are all about making maximum profits in the shortest time!
Helen Cole, Telford,