ECourier
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Logistics |
| Genre | Corporate Histories |
| Founded | London, UK (2003) |
| Founder | Tom Allason, Jay Bregman |
| Headquarters | |
| Services | Same day courier services |
Number of employees | 230 |
| Website | ecourier.co.uk |
| Footnotes / references Number of employees includes self-employed sub-contractor drivers | |
eCourier is a UK courier service.
Courier positions are tracked by GPS and an intelligent despatch system assigns orders via GPRS, improving efficiency in a traditional industry.[1] A computer algorithm distributes orders to couriers in real time based on location, traffic, weather and demand. The algorithm was developed by a team of academics in Italy.[2] The company stores the historical GPS positions of its couriers, and uploads this information to OpenStreetMap.[3] This information is also offered to the public via an API under a Creative Commons license. As of October 2008, their data set included over 252 million historical positions.[4]
The company was founded by Tom Allason and Jay Bregman after event tickets were lost by a motorcycle courier.[5] The business won Allason recognition as a Growing Business Top Gun 2007[6] and Bregman from the British Computer Society as 2005 IT Director of the Year.[7]
Investors in the company include Esther Dyson and Stuart Wheeler. Venture Capital firm Logispring also owned a minority stake in the company.[8]
In 2007 the company won the Evening Standard’s Most Inspirational Business award.[9]
In 2008 Allason left the company to pursue a new venture [10] and the following year launched Shutl.[11]
In 2009 eCourier reached 6 on Deloitte’s list of UK’s 50 fastest growing technology businesses.[12] and 53 on the Sunday Times Tech Track list of Britain's fastest-growing private technology companies.[13]
In 2011 to 2012 eCourier revenues were flat and the business was put up for sale.
In 2012, eCourier was acquired by Courier Systems, the trading name of Revisecatch Limited. This acquisition brought together the experience, expertise and knowledge of Courier Systems and the technology and dynamism of eCourier, which turned out to be a good fit for both businesses. In 2013, eCourier (UK) Ltd changed its name to KANDYSYSTEMS LTD and was put into voluntary liquidation.[14]
Revisecatch Limited [15] now uses the eCourier trading name for all of its courier business and has phased out the use of the Courier Systems name. eCourier now has one of the largest and most recognisable courier fleets in London and the South.
References
- ^ Michael Trick's Operations Research Blog, 23 June 2006, http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=81. Michael Trick is a Professor of Operations Research at Carnegie Mellon. See also articles from The Economist and Financial Times.
- ^ Real-Time Fleet Management At Ecourier Ltd http://www.springerlink.com/content/v41525296n068264/
- ^ Partners - OpenStreetMap http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Partners
- ^ eCourier Location API http://api.ecourier.co.uk/
- ^ Moules, Jonathan: Couriers Have High-Speed Connection, Financial Times, 18 March 2006
- ^ Award http://www.growingbusiness.co.uk/06959143451303647930/young-guns-2007.html
- ^ Medallists of the Individual Excellence Awards 2005
- ^ "eCourier - Parcel Delivery in Color" Alarm Clock, 18 October 2006, available at http://www.thealarmclock.com/euro/archives/2006/10/ecourier_parcel_deli.html
- ^ "The Winner: eCourier", Evening Standard, 2007 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/itsyourbusiness/article-23383010-details/The+winner:+eCourier/article.do
- ^ "eCourier.co.uk Founder Leaves to Pursue New venture" Press Release, 2008 [1]
- ^ Graham Charlton (9 December 2009). "Q&A: Tom Allason on e-commerce delivery startup Shutl". Econsultancy. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
- ^ "Winners List 2009", Deloitte, 2009
- ^ "Britain's fastest-growing private technology companies", Sunday Times, 2009 [2]
- ^ "DueDil company details"
- ^ "DueDil company details"