London, UK – 6th December 2010 – Masabi, the developer of mobile ticketing technology for the transport sector, joined London restaurant group Pied à Terre and online money lender, Wonga.com as winners of the Digital Entrepreneur awards – hailed as the only national stage in the UK dedicated to recognising online business excellence.
Now in their second year, the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year awards are aimed at discovering and rewarding the best businesses on the web and were expanded this year to accommodate a phenomenal number of applications from high-calibre companies. The winners – in categories including Design & Technology, Sustaining Society, Digital Business and E-services – saw off stiff competition from hundreds of web-based businesses who made up an outstanding shortlist of firms that battled it out for the British internet’s biggest awards.
The software developer that closed a deal with trainline.com in May picked up the Software Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year award.
The Masabi mobile application allows users to buy and display UK rail tickets direct from their mobile phones for any route on the National Rail network without having to visit ticket offices or ticket machines. The system began its rollout with Trainline.com earlier this year.
On picking up the award, Ben Whitaker, Masabi’s founder said: “In the next year we hope to do something for the everyman with mobile which means they can get on their trains without queuing. It’s really fun to be able to change an everyday bit of life with a good idea and hard work.”
“We are delighted to be working with the support of our major partners and rail operators to drive these changes because small businesses cannot change big industries on their own.”
Lawrence Jones, managing director of UKFast, the headline sponsor of this year’s awards and one of Europe’s fastest-growing technical companies, said: “It’s been a privilege to be involved in an event that recognises the innovators and entrepreneurs that are changing the face of the net as we know it. We’ve received a record number of entries this year from some pioneering businesses and have been truly inspired by many of them.”
CEO Ben Whitaker (right) and CTO Tom Godber (left) collecting the award for Masabi