Byway

It’s with huge excitement that we can announce our Series A funding round has closed at £5M!  The oversubscribed funding round was led by Heartcore Capital - who invest in tech companies which bring happiness and enchantment to the world, including GetYourGuide, Travelperk, and Fora.  Not only will this investment in Byway bring huge opportunities to further the future of flight-free, by expanding our technology, team (keep an eye out for job announcements!) and regional offerings – but it also means we now have two more wonderful supporters of our mission to make flight-free mainstream. Max Niederhofer, General Partner of Heartcore Capital, puts it perfectly: “We felt called to support Byway’s mission to make tourism both more fulfilling and sustainable, and believe that its technology will become a key pillar for the next generation of online travel. We are thrilled to be supporting another world-class European team in travel.” Eka Ventures, which focuses on sustainable consumption, also participated, along with re-investing Byway angels, including the HERMESA angel syndicate, impact investor, Julia Davies, and Susan Hooper former SAGA CEO. The interest and enthusiasm we saw from investors during this round was hugely exciting. It shows a real shift in the travel industry – not only towards low-carbon modes of transport, but also into mindful, conscious journeys that benefit local communities and create happy travellers. The rapid rise in demand for sustainable travel is also a huge reason this investment round was so successful, so a massive thanks to all of the Byway early adopters and advocates. Whether you’re a customer, a partner or an investor: you are paving the way to a more sustainable future of travel and we’re so happy to be on this journey with you. We cannot wait to crack on with all the things this funding will open up to us. Keep your eyes peeled for new roles and launches as we transition into this exciting new era for journey-based travel. Onwards! 🚞

This summer I went to St Anton in Austria with my nieces, brother-in-law and sister as part of their annual train-trips-around-Europe holiday with Byway. Because Cat Jones does slow travel with the children, the nieces had never seen the clouds from above - the way you do when flying over in a plane - until we went up a mountain and right through the clouds to the other side. The children were obsessed with the cloud sea they had discovered. Here’s Cat talking about slow travel with the girls and Byway. I am continuously, daily, so proud of how Cat lives her life and runs her incredible business:

📣 New role alert! We’re looking for a customer-centric superstar based in Asia to join our team as a part-time contractor. They’ll be an essential part of our customer experience, helping us cover emergency phone lines and supporting our wider team during UK early hours of the morning. Our ideal candidate will have a passion for European travel, especially by rail, and the ability to inspire others to explore in sustainable, exciting ways. They should be comfortable managing multiple tasks, staying calm under pressure, and ensuring every customer interaction is handled with care and attention to detail. If you love brightening someone's day and have a knack for turning challenges into solutions, we'd love to hear from you! Interested? Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/dHBDtnMx

So pleased to be named among the Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2025 by PhocusWire! Thank you for amplifying overland travel, and what a fantastic list of startups to be featured alongside.

📣 New role alert! We’re looking for a customer-centric superstar to welcome customers to Byway and help them with their holiday enquiries, alongside our Customer Support team! Our ideal candidate for the Customer Support role will be someone who is passionate about sustainable travel and can inspire customers to get excited about their own adventures. In this role, you’ll need to manage multiple tasks at once, working efficiently and effectively, with excellent attention to detail. We’re looking for someone who loves to make customers happy and feels accomplished helping them.   This is a Sunday-Thursday role, £29,000 - £31,000 p.a. depending on experience. Interested? Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/dXURUgf3

More opportunities to join our team are live! Help us on our mission to make flight-free travel mainstream. 🎨 Content Marketing Intern (6M) We're looking for a Content Marketing Intern to be the face of our brand on socials and support the marketing team with creative ideas and content production. This internship would suit someone who has been creating social content for a while and looking to hone this skill at a mission-led brand. Full details here: https://lnkd.in/eZRTtEZW 💻 QA Engineer We’re looking for a QA engineer to join our Tech Team at Byway. As our first QA hire you’ll play a pivotal role in designing, implementing and maintaining our testing strategies working closely with product and engineering to foster a quality culture and mindset. Full details here: https://lnkd.in/enXUKfk5 ☕️Java backend FTC (4-6 months) We are looking for an experienced Backend Java Developer for a 2-3 month contract to work on integrating third-party APIs into our journey planning and booking system. This role will focus primarily on integrating and optimising a travel API, depending on your skills and experience, into our dynamic packaging technology, to allow us to gather real time availability and booking information and automatically process bookings via the API.  Full details here: https://lnkd.in/eT8bHN_d All our current job openings can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eWW3KCQf

We're hiring! We've got some fantastic new opportunities in our sales and tech departments to help accelerate our mission of making flight-free mainstream. Sound like you or someone you know? Feel free to share this with your community! Current job openings below: ⭐️ Sales Lead: We’re looking for a Sales Lead to head our Concierge team at Byway. You’ll be responsible for guiding and developing a team of sales executives and managers, including regional experts. Full details here: https://lnkd.in/e-emCpvi 💡 Sales Executive: We’re on the hunt for an experienced Sales Executive to help our clients discover their perfect flight-free trip. You’ll understand their needs, and craft bespoke, memorable overland journeys. Full details here: https://lnkd.in/em4wbebw 💻 Mid Level Front End Developer: We’re looking for a Mid Level Front End Developer to join our Front End Team at Byway. You’ll be responsible for developing and enhancing the user experience on our websites and apps. Full details here: https://lnkd.in/efhKUaTM All current openings can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eWW3KCQf and details on how to apply can be found on the job page. We can't wait to hear from you!

There seem to be a few recruiting scams floating around the travel world, so we wanted to share some advice for staying safe online and where you can find our official job listings: 👉 Our new jobs are posted here: https://lnkd.in/eWW3KCQf and on our LinkedIn page. 👉 We do not contact over WhatsApp, Telegram or social media for recruitment and we would never ask for payment for job applications. 👉 We do not ask employees or contractors to pay for things out of their own bank account and then claim the expense back. 👉 We do not use any cryptocurrency or crypto wallets in our business. 👉 We are a London-based company and do not have offices anywhere else. 👉 Our official URLs are https://www.byway.travel/ and https://trip.byway.travel/ - If it’s something different (for instance “byway-work dot com”) it’s likely a scam. Always check the URL and that it's an HTTPS (not HTTP) connection! 👉 If you're unsure if a message is from us, get in contact at hello@byway.travel and we'll be able to confirm for you! If you've been a target of a scam, we recommend contacting the police and your bank if you shared any personal information or money. Read our full guide here: https://lnkd.in/eVVJnHwv Stay safe out there!

📢 We're hiring! 📢 As a B Corp, impact is not only about the work you do but also the way you build a company. We prioritise creating a superb work culture that supports and cares for our fantastic team, which in turn helps us push for our goals with energy and creativity. That's why we're looking for a People Manager, to help our team grow and develop in a mindful way, and perpetuate and expand on our values. From owning recruiting and onboarding processes, to managing team communications and developing learning/wellness resources - this is an opportunity to build a brilliant workplace culture. Read about the role here: https://lnkd.in/g-jE44sq and if you know anyone who might be a fit, point them our way!

Fantastic to talk to people about flight-free travel in-person! Thank you for organising this Flight Free UK