Yanolja eyes $400m US IPO in July at $9b valuation: report

Photo credit: Yanolja

Yanolja is preparing for a US$400 million IPO in the US. The offering could bring the South Korean travel app’s valuation to between US$7 billion and US$9 billion, reported Bloomberg, quoting people familiar with the matter.

The SoftBank-backed company is looking to list in July, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the IPO.

Established in 2005, Yanolja has positioned itself among the world’s major travel platforms. The firm has broadened its scope through several acquisitions – last year, it acquired Israel-based Go Global Travel and US-based Innsoft.

Yanolja is expanding beyond travel booking into cloud services for the hospitality and leisure sectors, putting it in competition with Airbnb and Expedia Group, Bloomberg noted.

In the first quarter of 2024, Yanolja reported an operating profit of 194.7 billion won (US$142 million), marking a nearly 30% increase from the same period last year.

The contribution of Yanolja’s core travel business to its total revenue decreased from 54% in Q1 2023 to 45% in Q1 2024. Meanwhile, the figure for its cloud business increased from 19% to 22% over the same period.

The company has 50 regional offices across the globe, including the recently set-up Manhattan office in the US.

See also: Mapping Asia’s travel tech players as they face funding storm

Currency converted from South Korean won to US dollar: US$1 = 1,368 won.