Technology

Posted on January 31, 2019 by staff

London app services firm predicts £40m turnover

Technology

Leading app-based commercial services company Fantastic Services is predicting turnover in excess of £40m for 2019 as it expands its offering throughout the UK.

The firm currently connects more than 15,000 UK clients with 2,000 professionals and experts every month. By the end of the year, it expects its customer base over the year to have risen to nearly 200,000 as new ventures in 10 areas, including Manchester, Chester, Birmingham, Sheffield, and the South West, become established.

Last year, the company delivered over 425,000 services, turning over £32m.

Monthly active users of the GoFantastic app grew in the UK by 45.5 per cent between August 2017 and August 2018.

Over the same period, bookings via the GoFantastic app grew by 85 per cent, and in-app revenue grew by 76.6 per cent.

According to CEO and co-founder Rune Sovndahl, the company plans to reinvest all profits to improve their domestic and commercial services.

“We have grown by 20 per cent in the UK in 2018 and we expect that success to continue this year with 30 per cent growth,” he said.

“Investors want to put money into the business, but we have said no. Like in previous years, the profit is there but we are going to reinvest most of it again. It is common to reinvest. We know we can make money, but we would rather invest to ensure we become the biggest and the best.

“Other businesses will spend a lot on marketing and not on improving the product, where we deliver to make sure we match supply and demand.We are the model that shows how this business should be done. That’s the Fantastic way of doing it.”

He added: “We began Fantastic Services by trying to gamify the cleaning industry, but now we are much more focussed on how to improve people and our service. We have got to protect our customers and our peers. We care slightly more. We care about people, and that’s what keeps us ahead of other disruptors or tech companies who might want to do something similar.

“Innovation and investment must focus on the service, our professionals, and the customers.We want Fantastic Services to be the company you think of whenever you need something doing in your home.”

To achieve that, Fantastic Services sends all of its 2,000 UK-based experts through its ‘Fantastic Academy’, which offers training progression within the company.

Rune Sovndahl and Anton Skarlatov launched the business in 2009 using just two laptops, a sofa and a shared mobile phone. The aim was to deliver home services in a streamlined and simple way, delivering the best possible service for all clients and crews involved.

The London-based firm now offers more than 25 different services throughout the UK, from standard cleaning and handyman work to waste removal and landscaping. All of these can be reached via the GoFantastic app, which provides bespoke services clients can customise and book 24/7.

After introducing its real-time availability technology, the average processing time per booking has dropped dramatically and cuts the support time by 30 per cent or 10,800 work hours per year.