(Newswire.net — February 20, 2014) Gold Coast, Queensland —
CartHopper, a Gold Coast, Australia based startup run by three local co-founders, is aiming to significantly reduce the cost of getting items moved, save Gold Coasters time and money, as well as earn extra cash for local drivers.
CartHopper is an online marketplace that connects people who need something picked up and delivered, with those who have the right type of vehicle to help. This concept of asking the community to help is also known as collaborative consumption, and has been popularized in recent times by well-known Startups like Uber and Airbnb. CartHopper brings out that sense of community by allowing locals to reach out to each other to get their larger than usual items moved quickly and cheaply.
Since launching only two weeks ago, CartHopper has already seen a number of jobs successfully posted and picked up by local drivers. The highest paying job posted to date has seen a person needing their one bedroom apartment of furniture moved from Sydney back to the Gold Coast. This type of job would normally cost over $1,000. Using Cart Hopper, this person was able to get it done much cheaper, as a Gold Coast back-loading company saw the opportunity to fill some empty space on a trip they were doing anyway.
The idea spawned from personal frustration when Jacob Turner, one of CartHopper’s co-founders, recently moved houses. Jacob stated, “I bought a medium sized piece of furniture at an auction house, and struggled to squeeze it in the back seat of my sedan. A person with a trailer who was parked next to me asked which way I was heading and offered to pop it in his trailer for me. I happily paid him $30 for his effort, as I was able to avoid the expensive courier service offered at the auction venue”. From there Jacob pitched the idea to his friend and girlfriend. All agreed it was a pain point experienced throughout the community, and they wanted to be a part of the solution.
Mentions:
Silicon Lakes blog post – http://www.siliconlakes.com.au/index.php/local-startup-carthopper-launched/
About
The co-founders of Cart Hopper are Kevin Skeen, Jacob Turner, and Britney Marsden. Each co-founder is entrepreneurial, bringing their own unique background and skill set to the team.
Cart Hopper
Gold Coast, Queensland
Australia 4217