Type of site | Travel & lifestyle social network |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder(s) | Peter Ward, Jerome Touze, Mike Lines |
| Industry | Internet |
| Employees | 21 (July 2016) |
| Divisions | London, Cape Town, Szczecin |
| URL | www2 |
| Current status | active |
WAYN (an acronym for Where Are You Now?) is a social travel network.[1] Its stated goal is to help discover where to go and meet like-minded people. WAYN was the brain child of entrepreneurs Jerome Touze and Peter ward and was founded in 2002.[1]
Like other social networking services, WAYN enabled its users to create a profile and upload photos. Users can search for other users and link them to their profiles as friends. The Founders part exited the business in 2006 in a $11m deal[2] to DFJ Esprit and valuing the company at $46m.[3] In 2015 it claims to have over 20 million users.[4] By 2013, the site grew to 22 million registered users, growing at a daily rate of 5,000 new users and adding 25,000 new travel photos every day.[5] In late 2016, the website was bought by Lastminute.com in an asset purchase deal at terms that were not disclosed.[6]
The acquisition means Wayn's database of users and content will be added to The Travel People,[7] lastminute.com's media division. The Travel People claims to reach 43 million monthly unique visitors every month across all its brands (Lastminute.com, Rumbo, Volagratis, Bravofly and Jetcost).
- ^ a b O'Neill, Sean (5 February 2014). "You have to pivot to win it: Original social travel site WAYN on survival". Phocuswire.
- ^ "WAYN secures $11 million". www.stellantpartners.com. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
- ^ "WAYN Stock Price, Funding, Valuation, Revenue & Financial Statements". www.cbinsights.com. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
- ^ "WAYN: About Us". Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Social travel network WAYN marks 22-million registered travellers". Ventureburn. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
- ^ Butcher, Mike (21 September 2016). "After a long journey, WAYN gets picked up by its dotcom-era brother, Lastminute.com". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
- ^ "WAYN travel social network bought by Lastminute.com Group". www.phocuswire.com. Retrieved 23 April 2023.