Byway is using AI to help travelers slow down and take the scenic route
Solo founder Cat Jones took the plunge on setting up a travel business right around the time the pandemic was hitting Europe in March 2020.

Solo founder Cat Jones took the plunge on setting up a travel business right around the time the pandemic was hitting Europe in March 2020. Fast forward to summer 2024 and her curated package tour business, Byway, is announcing close of an oversubscribed £5.04 million Series A round (around $6.4M at current exchange rates).

Jones’ conviction that slow and more sustainable travel — trips whose unique selling point is they’re programmed to be flight-free, going overland (and sea) by train, bus or ferry, allowing holidaymakers to take in the scenery and dodge the crowds as they unwind in more off-the-beaten-track locations — is on a roll. Growth has been 3x year-on-year, she tells TechCrunch, with more than 4,200 trips sold to date.