South Korea’s hotel booking platform Yanolja is looking to list both its Seoul and Singapore operations in the overseas market in the next two years, company CEO Lee Su-jin told Maeil Business Newspaper in an interview.
Photo credit: Yanolja
According to Lee, the company is considering listing its Singapore subsidiary next year or in 2021.
“The subsidiary in Singapore could be listed on the global market before the initial public offering of the Korean headquarters because the company is valued higher in the overseas market than the local market,” Lee added.
According to the report, proceeds from its planned IPO will be used to ramp up research and development in technology such as the internet of things and AI.
See: Travel group Yanolja ramps up Southeast Asia presence as it prepares for IPO
Yanolja, founded in 2005, expanded its footprint in Southeast Asia by investing over US$15 million in Rocket Internet-backed budget hotel operator Zen Rooms, which made it a competitor to India’s Oyo Hotels and Homes and Singapore-based RedDoorz in the region.
“We aim to achieve 70 billion won (US$60.2 million) in global sales in 2020, more than twice as high as this year’s 30 billion won,” Lee told the newspaper.
Yanolja said its most valuable asset is big data accumulated in real time through accommodation and travel service networks, according to the report. Lee added that the data the company has collected since 2005 will enable Yanolja to respond to customers’ changing demands.
The company secured US$180 million from US peer Booking Holdings Inc. and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC in June. Yanolja became a unicorn after the deal, which brought the company’s valuation to more than US$1 billion.
Editing by Charmaine de Lazo
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