WAYN

Long before the social media giants we know today, a different kind of network was connecting people across the globe. In 2002, founders Peter Ward, Jerome Touze, and Mike Lines launched WAYN, short for Where Are You Now?. The idea, born from Touze's own travel experiences, was simple: create a platform for travelers to share their journeys, see where their friends were, and meet like-minded people. WAYN grew rapidly, attracting millions of users who meticulously logged their past trips and future destinations. In 2006, the company secured a significant $11 million funding round from investors, including the co-founder of lastminute.com, which valued the burgeoning social travel network at $46 million. This investment allowed the platform to move away from a subscription model and make its core features free, causing user traffic to surge. The business monetized through advertising and premium VIP memberships. For 14 years, WAYN operated as a major player in the social travel space, sometimes called the 'Myspace of Travel'. However, the landscape of social media was changing. In late 2016, after entering insolvency, the company's journey as an independent entity came to an end. The assets of WAYN, including its database of over 20 million users, were acquired by lastminute.com Group for a reported $1.2 million. The acquisition aimed to integrate WAYN's community into a new media division, folding its story into a larger travel enterprise.