Lifestyle based social networking site WAYN.com plans to open office in India

WAYN is considering setting up a sales team in Mumbai and also exploring partnerships with some Indian group buying companies and travel sites like Cleartrip etc.

By ET Bureau | Updated: May 30, 2011, 01.59 PM IST

MUMBAI: London-based travel and lifestyle based social networking site WAYN.com (Where are you now) plans to open an office in India in the next six months that will be headquartered in Mumbai. The site has 17 million users worldwide and about one fifth of that- 3.4 million are in India.

"We have a significant amount of users in India and it only makes commercial sense to visit and explore partnerships there," said the 31 year old CEO of the company, Jerome Touze. WAYN is considering setting up a sales team in Mumbai and also exploring partnerships with some Indian group buying companies and travel sites like Cleartrip etc. "We are hoping for some interesting synergies to emerge out of the meetings" said Touze who co-founded the company along with Peter Ward and Mike Lines who were management consultants at Accenture.

The sites generates revenue from advertising and some paid services. It is looking at launching specific deals to its users and will tie up with local services like restaurants, theatres, resorts and travel agencies in India.

The site went live in May 2002 kicking off with 40,000 users within the first couple of months. WAYN helps users share experiences about their travels and put up reviews, photos and videos.

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