A Bermudian tycoon based in London has sealed a multimillion dollar deal to sell his online delivery firm to eCommerce giants eBay.

Tom Allason, who spent much of his early life on the island and whose mother Nicole still lives here, founded his Shutl company just four years ago.

Mr Allason, the son of former UK Conservative MP Rupert Allason, said on his company website: “I have the utmost appreciation for the eBay team and am excited and honoured for Shutl to be a part of their plans ... eBay’s bold vision to redefine local commerce is one that fits perfectly with what we have set out to achieve at Shutl.”

Shutl started with a same-day delivery service in London and expanded across the UK, before targeting the US for expansion last year.

The firm uses networks of courier firms to deliver online orders from bricks-and-mortar stores — making delivery faster and more efficient.

Mr Allason said the merger deal had “the ability to help redefine the future of shopping”.

He added: “Bottom line, this is very far from the end of the road for Shutl. Rather, this is a doorway to a much greater opportunity, one that we at Shutl can’t wait to start executing on.

“Shutl will continue to serve our retail partners in the UK and the US. We will be speeding up our national and international rollouts and increasing our investment in new product development.”

Until eBay bought over Shutl, it used its own one-day delivery couriers, usually contractors who drove eBay Now branded vehicles.

But it thought this would have been too expensive to operate on a large scale and Shutl has already amassed a network of existing courier firms.

Shutl partners with major retailers UK retailers like electrical goods firm Argos and fashion chains Warehouse, Oasis and Karen Millen.

Neither side was prepared to discuss the terms of the takeover.

Shutl started with just over $800,000 in venture capital in 2009 and by mid-2012, the service was available to 70 percent of UK shoppers in more than 50 towns and cities.

Mr Allason and his firm has won a series of awards. Startups.co.uk ranked Shutl at number one in the top 100 start-ups of the year for 2012 and also won the National Business Awards Start-up Business of the Year.

Mr Allason was named one of the business ‘Young Guns’ 2007 and in 2010, he was included in the Real Business’s 30:30 Club, a list of the most promising young entrepreneurs.

The company won the Econsultancy Innovation in eCommerce award in 2011 and, in the UK IT Industry Awards, it netted the BT Retail Week Technology Award for suppy chain excellence.

Mr Allason attended the prestigious Eton public school in England before studying at Ivy League Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

He moved to London in 2002 and now splits his time between there and Los Angeles.

His father — who also wrote best-selling spy thrillers under the name Nigel West — maintained a home in Bermuda for many years and was also the chairman of the UK’s Anglo-Bermudian Parliamentary Group.