Antony Pink has realised a long-standing ambition to become an entrepreneur with the launch of his own mobile start-up company, Laundrapp.
Antony (OE 2000–2007) was a keen rugby-player at School and was then known as Kishan, having subsequently begun using his middle name, Antony, instead.
Since leaving QE to study Business Management at Nottingham University, a fascination with business has been a constant theme of his life. While at Nottingham, he was involved in business start-up societies and says it was already in his mind that he would one day like to launch a business of his own.
After university, Antony joined multinational management consultancy Accenture as a strategy consultant, where he worked in financial services.
Nearly four years later, he took the decision to leave a secure job and instead start Laundrapp with two business partners. They have raised £1.5million of seed funding from well-known investors Rupert Hambro (former Chairman of Hambros Bank) and Dominic Perks.
Laundrapp offers customers a door-to-door laundry and dry-cleaning collection and delivery service. It is currently operating in London and moving into five other UK cities.
“The business has only been trading for five months, but is already doing well and is the market leader in its field,” says Antony, who is Laundrapp’s Chief Operating Officer. One of Laundrapp’s strategies has been to advertise heavily and to invest in PR. A six-figure marketing investment has resulted in TV and radio commercials, online and outdoor advertising, posters on the Underground (in stations and in trains). Features in the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Mail, as well as articles in the specialist business and technology press, have also formed part of the marketing mix.
Laundrapp is available on iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android.