UK’s largest online trade recommendation service gears up for growth

Rated People, the UK’s leading online service helping homeowners find reputable tradesmen, is gearing up for further growth with the appointment of Chris Havemann as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Founded in 2005, London-based Rated People is transforming the £40 billion UK home improvement industry by providing a trusted, convenient online marketplace to connect homeowners and tradesmen. Offering access to more than 30,000 high quality local tradesmen in the UK and generating 500,000 home improvement and repair jobs a year, Rated People is enjoying rapid growth, extending its lead ahead of the competition and enjoying increased consumer confidence in local marketplaces.

As founder and CEO of London Stock Exchange AIM-listed Research Now plc, Havemann led its successful IPO in 2005 and its acquisition of North American competitor OpenVenue in 2007. In 2009, Research Now was acquired by US market leader e-Rewards, Inc. at which point Chris was named President and CEO of the merged business, where he served until September 2011.

The founder and former CEO of Rated People, Andrew Skipwith, will remain on the company’s board as a non-executive director and continue to be a major shareholder.

Rated People also announces today the appointment of Darren Quigg as Chief Financial Officer.  Quigg joins from TagMan, the leading global tag management solution for eCommerce, where he was also CFO. From 2007 to 2009, he was European Finance Director for Aol Advertising, incorporating Advertising.com, Buy.at and advertising sales for all of Aol’s media properties. Prior to that Quigg held senior finance roles at MTV Networks Europe and Walt Disney Europe.

In 2011, Rated People announced a £3.5m investment from Frog Capital. The company have recently appointed Torch Partners as financial advisers, with Havemann and Quigg joining ahead of an anticipated growth equity round in 2013.

Adrian Cox, chairman of Rated People, commented “I am delighted to welcome both Chris and Darren to the board.  We continue to build a leadership team with outstanding credentials, and strength in depth, as we gear up for further dramatic growth ahead.  I would also like to thank Andrew for his outstanding achievements in guiding Rated People from inception to its market leading position today.”

Chris Havemann added “I’m excited to be joining the Rated People team at a point where the landscape for finding quality home services and securing valuable business leads is changing rapidly and we are seeing increased confidence in local marketplaces.  We intend to accelerate the pace of that change, offering both homeowners and local tradesmen alike our industry-leading online and mobile solution.”