In June 2012, Imogen and Fraser started up their business, Qudini, a cloud-based platform that allows brands with physical locations to create positive customer experiences through queue management, appointment and event bookings, click and collect, and repair and collection management.
Qudini has already obtained a number of big brand clients, including: 02, John Lewis, Thomas Cook, the NHS and many other leading retailers. The business is based in Hackney, London and Qudini have already secured international partners in locations from America to Australia.
Imogen and Fraser both work full-time at Qudini and employ 30 members of staff. Within the business there are commercial, financial, product, development and projects teams which have enabled Qudini to extend their product offering and build their reputation.
Prior to starting Qudini, Imogen completed a BA degree at the University of Bristol, before studying Creative Communications and Entrepreneurship at the School of Communication Arts in London. Meanwhile, Fraser completed his Masters degree in Mobile Technology at London Metropolitan and had a keen interest in Android development.
The inspiration for Qudini came from Imogen and Fraser’s desire to help retailers and restaurants increase conversions and foot fall whilst reducing operational inefficiencies. As the pair started up fresh out of university, they didn’t have much capital to play with and decided to seek funding.
In the first year of launching, Imogen and Fraser each applied for a Start Up Loan, and received a total of £30,000 between them. This funding enabled them to hire Qudini’s first employee and build a minimum viable product (MVP) to test their idea and secure their crucial first customers.
Since starting Qudini, the company has been through two corporate acceleration programs with Telefonica and John Lewis. Over the past few years, Qudini has raised £2.4 million in equity investment, whilst also growing the company’s sales revenue organically. Furthermore, Imogen and Fraser have managed to raise additional capital through private investors.
The pair have experienced some bumps in the road while starting up, with the main challenge being the recruitment of high-calibre developers and technical team members. Fraser tells us:
“Recruiting best-in-class developers has always been a challenge and still continues to be. We have found that the job market for developers is extremely competitive and there seems to be quite a skills shortage.”
Over the next three years, Imogen and Fraser are looking to further increase the market share of Qudini in the virtual queue management and appointment bookings spaces.
Imogen found her Start Up Loan support very helpful, and said:
“The Start Up Loan initiative created an incredible foundation that enabled us to build both a product and a business, and it has had a huge impact helping us to accomplish some amazing achievements that just continue to grow.”
