A company which claims to help learner drivers pass their tests more quickly and cheaply has raised more than £1.9 million.

Midrive is an app which links first-time drivers with instructors.

It has also set a curriculum for learners to follow outside their lessons and offers insurance by the hour to lower the cost of getting on the road.

It was founded in 2012 by staff at Holiday Extras in Newingreen, near Hythe, which has become a major investor in the business.

The company is running a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, where more than 550 investors have helped it smash its initial £1.8 million fundraising target.

It is the second major fundraising the company has pursued, after it raised £2 million in 2016 in a campaign led by Initial Capital.

The firm claims learners using its app are 38% more likely to pass first time.

It is led by former MoneySupermarket general manager Asher Ismail, who says the business is "on a mission to make first-time driving easier, more affordable and safer".

It has a network of more than 1,650 instructors across the UK and has sold more than 100,000 hours of lessons.

Monthly revenue from its “smarter lessons” and “pay as you go” insurance has increased 391% over the last year.

Mr Ismail said: "Our award-winning apps help make learning fun, track the learners progress every step of the way, and help them get insured for less.

"The result is our learners require 17 fewer lessons to reach test standard and are 38% more likely to pass first time, on average saving more than £425."

This year, the business wants to launch its next insurance innovation, an interactive black box insurance that uses data about speed and acceleration to continue coaching new drivers after they pass their test.

The app was dreamt up in 2011 by Matt Sutton, a web developer from Ashford who worked at Holiday Extras.

He showed the idea, a year later, to his boss Simon Hagger, presently the Newingreen firm's deputy chief executive, who pushed the business forward with initial funding from the company.

After it exceeded targets, Holiday Extras invested further and set up the company as a business in its own right.

To date it has invested a "seven-figure sum" and its founder Gerry Pack has invested personally.

Its chief operating officer David Norris sits on the Midrive board as co-chairman.

"We generally don't invest in start-ups," he said. "We are not a portfolio investor.

"We invested because we thought it was a great idea and there was a real passion about road safety from the founding team at Holiday Extras

"We have done a lot of work on defining what our overall purpose is as a business and now we have a clear vision around helping people make the most of their free time.

"There are a lot of business opportunities around that. We are continually spinning out new projects and ideas. We are open to invest in other companies where we think it aligns with our overall strategy.

"Midrive is not the last early-stage business we will get involved in."

Named digital business of the year by the Federation of Small Businesses, Midrive has offices in Shoreditch and at Holiday Extras' headquarters.

Mr Ismail is the firm's second chief executive after its first, Scott Taylor, left the business early last year to reportedly pursue interests in the US.