Government's top innovation agency backs flight-free travel by funding Byway alongside industry leaders
We’ve closed £1.1 million in funding from Innovate UK and angel investors to accelerate our mission to make sustainable, slow travel holidays mainstream
London, 6th July 2021 – While the travel industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, our business has been growing fast thanks to our community of environmental advocates looking for unique and travel options. That why we’ve decided to take on funding to provide even more people with scenic, flight-free holidays: our £1.1 million of funding comes from an Innovate UK SMART grant as well as Founders Factory and angel investors. Our angels include founder/CEO of Viator and Rome2Rio, Rod Cuthbert, slow travel guru Ed Gillespie, and former Chair of Visit Britain, Christopher Rodrigues CBE.
We’re thrilled to have the backing of the government and so many knowledgeable and supportive investors to help us make slow travel mainstream. This funding will accelerate our growth, expanding our technical, customer experience and marketing teams (we’ve currently got four open roles) and extending our technology, which allows you to instantly create slow travel holidays built to your preferences.
Angel investor Ed Gillespie said:
“Our investment in Byway is not just about a great bet on a company with a superb founding team and obvious traction, but also about supporting a future of reducing carbon emissions. Aviation is a massive contributor to climate change, and over-tourism is a huge ecological issue. Tourism can be restorative to both the people on the trip, and the places they visit. That’s a future I want to invest in.”
At Byway, we offer ABTA-protected holidays with all travel and accommodation, built by matching an intricate understanding of each traveller’s wants and needs with our deep knowledge of slow travel gems across our destinations in the UK, France, and Italy.
Cat Jones, founder and CEO of Byway, said:
“We’re so appreciative of everyone who has got us to this point. Starting a travel company in the pandemic was always going to be an uphill struggle, but our community of early-adopter travellers, and members who have taken the slow travel pledge, have been so supportive and I’m delighted to share that we’ve now built over 7,500 holidays for them! Our five star review rating shows we’ve hit on something they love, and that gives us all enormous satisfaction. We’re so excited for the next stage: growing our team and community, and embracing the slow travel revolution!”