How I positioned my start-up at the forefront of London’s business travel scene

Jennifer Sieg speaks with Bobby Drewett of business travel app Ouno about his plans to shake up the industry

Bobby Drewett was seven years into running his first successful start-up when he realised there was never going to be enough room in the market to scale. 

He had started a catering company with a friend, which had become quite successful in its own right, but he went on to sell it at the age of 27 to chase something with more growth potential. 

“It was a good business [and] it had a great lifespan, but I wanted to be more creative… where I could really show what I wanted to do,” Drewett, 34, says. 

The entrepreneur has now found himself running an up-and-coming executive travel business, called Ouno, which he launched in 2023. 

The travel app has since seen 172 per cent growth so far this year, with that number expecting to soon surpass the 200 mark, and has partnered with some big name brands to offer its services. 

These include clients such as Prada, Soho House, Cartier and Tottenham Hotspurs. While B2B is the start-up’s main business model, it also now has some 21,000 B2C accounts. 

Ouno has also partnered with the O2 Arena for a three-year servicing deal and can now reveal a new game-changing partnership with the NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars, which now plays four games a year in the UK. 

This, Drewett says, highlights the growing importance of partnerships that continue to help put him and his start-up “on the map”. 

How it works 

Ouno works like any other pre-scheduled travel app – an app for booking and a personalised driver once you do – except its services are meant to be top-tier. 

Of course you can book an Uber for a tenner, Drewett says, but Ouno’s mission has always been to be much more than an app with cheap convenience: “It comes down to pure service levels.” 

“You could order an Uber, and it can be there in four to eight minutes – if it doesn’t cancel three times – but you’re not going to get the service levels you’re going to get with Ouno,” Drewett adds. 

With the business travel industry set to soar in 2025, you could say Drewett found himself perfectly placed within the growing industry he was looking for. 

A recent global State of the Market Survey highlighted that 40 per cent of businesses plan to increase travel from July to June. 

Another survey by business management TravelPerk also revealed that 76% of chief executives said increasing travel budgets would positively impact their company’s revenue.

Fortunately, Drewett — who dates his journey with the earliest version of Ouno back to 2017 when he tested out a tour bus business with his friend — powered through the setbacks.

Right after completing his first ever European tour gig with Canadian singer-songwriter Drake, he thought he finally made it. Then, the pandemic hit, causing the travel industry to halt and him to pivot his strategy. 

“It gave us a chance to get ahead and come out the other side with a product, and then fortunately enough, to raise some money,” he says. 

Hard work pays off 

Drewett had left school at the age of 16 to work in the construction industry as a quantity surveyor, but his chosen 9-5 career didn’t last long. 

“I worked for a year and a half and then the 2008 crash came, where it just ripped everything apart in London,” he says. 

“Half of the small office got made redundant, and as quick as I was in work in London I was quickly out again.” 

Drewett has worked for himself ever since. Soon after losing his job, he launched his first tech start-up – an Airbnb styled rent-a-room platform called Lodgers Direct – and used his mum’s spare bedroom as the test. 

“I was completely naive at 18 [to] funding, building websites, that sort of thing, so that kind of died a quick death,” he says, with a laugh. 

“But with Airbnb launching and being so successful five years later, I saw myself as I was on the right track –  these ideas and these visions that you do have do come through.” 

Pushing forward 

Entrepreneurship might have its ups and downs, but Drewett’s not afraid to admit that all the failures and “unsuccessful” ideas were necessary to feed into what he sees as his success today. 

“I [eventually] learned I could focus on one thing and one thing could be enough,” he says. 

“I wish I’d learned it earlier, but the skills and the life lessons that I learned through unsuccessful businesses or spreading myself thin or trying a load of different trades, I think have all gone towards the success of Ouno.” 

CV

Name: Bobby Drewett
Company: OUNO app
Founded: 2023
Staff: 12
Title: Founder
Age: 34
Born: Fulham, London
Lives: Chelsea, London
Studied: Therfield, Surrey
Talents: Ability to somehow work 25 hrs a day
Motto: The harder you work the luckier you get
Most known for: Ground transport in London
First ambition: Play for professional rugby league
Favourite book: Not a huge reader, but an industry expert, Barak Sas produces a mobility newsletter weekly which I can’t miss
Best piece of advice: Never be afraid to shoot your shot