On-demand coach service Sn-ap raises £2 million

On-demand inter-city coach service Sn-ap is planning to expand its services to new cities having raised £2 million in equity funding. The company links passengers with local coach operators and trips only run if there is enough interest. It currently … Continue reading →

On-demand inter-city coach service Sn-ap is planning to expand its services to new cities having raised £2 million in equity funding.

The company links passengers with local coach operators and trips only run if there is enough interest.

It currently runs between London and East Midlands cities Nottingham and Derby.

The investment in Sn-ap comes from London-based early stage VC fund Kindred Capital and is supported by other privat investors from the travel and finance sectors.

The concept is to provide services anywhere to anywhere, at anytime on trips that go direct, point-to-point, without detours or drop-offs. Fares start from £2 one-way and the company says it’s on-demand service means they can keep prices low.  It has carried 25,000 passengers to date.

Sn-ap was founded in April 2016 by former Chiltern Railways commercial director Thomas Ableman and has already raised an initial £1m in seed funding from angel investors specialising in the transport, technology, media and finance arenas.

Ableman, who is also CEO of Sn-ap, said: “Our customers want to see this service linking more UK cities and fast. We have attracted a much broader range of travellers than we were initially expecting – young families, post-family singles and couples all love the concept of high quality, low-cost travel on demand. Using our platform, they get greater convenience and real flexibility at a fraction of the cost of other travel options. At the same time, coach operators with spare capacity get access to popular intercity routes for the very first time. It’s a win-win.

“This round of investment will help us expand to more cities and continue to make intercity travel as easy and affordable as possible for all.”

Leila Zegna of Kindred Capital, added: “Intracity transport has been revolutionized in recent years by entrants like bike sharing, Zipcar, Uber, Gett Taxi and others, whereas intercity transport has remained relatively untouched by digital disruption.  Therein lies Sn-ap’s opportunity to enable the millions of people making journeys between cities to access today’s underutilized private hire coaches.”