High growth utilities start-up The Bunch has scaled-up to new premises following a period of rapid expansion, despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Founded by then-student Elliott Herrod-Taylor in 2017, The Bunch consolidates household bills into one monthly payment for students, helping to ease the stress around bills whilst at university as well as granting individual liability for tenants – which means if one housemate doesn’t pay, the others aren’t responsible.
The start-up also offers agents and landlords an attractive offer to refer their tenants in return for commission, or alternatively pass the bills management of their property portfolio to The Bunch, removing the hassle of handling supplier relationships.
With an increased turnover year-on-year of 110% since its conception, the Bristol-based business is this financial year experiencing a boom at 250% growth, having completed a funding round of £900k in 2020.
Having now serviced over 10,000 customers, The Bunch has grown from a team of seven to 20 in the past six months.
The expansion warranted an office move to new more spacious premises in St Pauls, Bristol, where the team is focused on hitting ambitious targets of growth from £1.9m to £5m turnover for the next financial year.
25-year-old founder Elliott, who was a Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 finalist at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, has the backing of a heavyweight team of board and advisors, including startup and scale expert David Murray-Hundley as chairman and digital transformation innovator Clive Gilson as non-executive director.
Future plans for the business include the launch of a product for young professionals in August 2021.
Elliott Herrod-Taylor, founder and CEO at The Bunch, said: “This expansion marks a truly exciting time at The Bunch, which has catapulted from an idea I had at university to a business taking the market by storm in a few short years.
“I’m confident with the team around me that The Bunch is on a path to build on this strong growth trajectory and forge ahead to further fulfil our brand purpose: to remove liability and hassle from the rental journey for both tenants and agents.”
David Murray-Hundley, chairman at The Bunch, said: “Although the company is relatively young still, the market has changed over the years and the business is better educated to understand what works well, what requires adaptation and which areas not to pursue in terms of market. The changes coming up to our products will reflect our track record and better understanding.
“On the new office, I have found with this particular business that the staff is keen to work together in the same space the majority of the time, so we need to accommodate those requests the best way we can in current times.”