Yanolja raises $180M funding from GIC and Booking Holdings

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Jun 12, 2019, 00:23 ET

Current round of financing brings Yanolja's valuation to over $1B
Over the last 5 years, Yanolja has grown revenue at an annual rate of over 70%

SEOUL, South Korea, June 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yanolja, the largest online travel platform in South Korea, raised $180 million in Series D funding from GIC and Booking Holdings, bringing its current valuation to more than $1 billion.

Alongside its investment, Yanolja and Booking Holdings have entered into a strategic partnership and commercial agreement. With the partnership, Booking Holdings' brand Agoda will have the ability to offer its customers Yanolja's unique hotel accommodations in South Korea, and Yanolja customers will be able to book accommodations across the globe powered by Agoda and other Booking Holdings' brands.

Yanolja is the market leader in Korea's accommodation and leisure industry, given the company's acute understanding and use of cutting-edge digital technologies, and global expansion plans. In particular, the company has demonstrated accelerating sales growth at an annual rate of more than 70% over the past five years.

Yanolja quickly gained ground as the largest online travel platform in Korea surpassing $100 million in monthly transactions for the first time in the industry. Yanolja has continued to show the value of its online booking platform for its customers with 20 million accumulated reservations for accommodation and leisure activity booking.

In addition, Yanolja is one of the largest hotel chains in Korea with more than 200 hotels which include some of the strongest and most recognized franchise hotel brands across the country. Outside of Korea, Yanolja has invested in Southeast Asia's No. 1 hotel chain, ZENRooms, which has more than 1000 hotels across the region, strategically positioning itself for its global hotel franchise business.

Furthermore, Yanolja has developed the leading cloud-based property management system in Korea, supporting all kinds of accommodation types, helping the owners save operational costs, increase bookings, and ultimately boosting revenue. Based on its technological know-how and operational experience, Yanolja is architecting a smart hotel that utilizes key technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT). Earlier this year, Yanolja in collaboration with Korea Telecom, introduced the smart hotel concept in Jeju Island, which is expected to enhance the hotel's overall performance contributing mainly from two perspectives: (i) cost efficiency and (ii) customer satisfaction.

The new funds will be used to further innovate and achieve new grounds in hospitality-related technology to automate hotel operations and achieve more pervasive connectivity across the value chain. A portion of the newly raised funds will also be deployed to accelerate digitalization and achieve growth potential in the global travel and leisure market, going beyond the traditional travel sphere.

About GIC
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves. As a long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. In private equity, GIC invests through funds as well as directly in companies, partnering with its fund managers and management teams to help world class businesses achieve their objectives. GIC has investments in over 40 countries and has been investing in emerging markets for more than two decades. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,500 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For more information about GIC, please visit www.gic.com.sg or https://sg.linkedin.com/company/gic.

About Booking Holdings
Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world leader in online travel and related services, provided to customers and partners in over 230 countries and territories through six primary brands - Booking.com, KAYAK, priceline.com, agoda.com, Rentalcars.com and OpenTable. The mission of Booking Holdings is to help people experience the world. For more information, visit Bookingholdings.com.

About Yanolja
Yanolja is Korea's No.1 leisure platform that goes beyond reservations for domestic accommodation and leisure activities and includes reservations for accommodation around the world. It has incorporated new technologies such as AI, IoT and VR into traditional lodging and leisure industries for the first time in Korea, and is actively stepping up efforts to tap into overseas market. Yanolja will continue to introduce a solution that enables users to enjoy leisure most efficiently and conveniently in order to realize its brand mission of "making everyone feel comfortable" and complete a more advanced global leisure platform.

SOURCE Yanolja