Skift Take
Yanolja means “Hey, let’s play” in Korean. If Softbank agrees to play, the travel startup will have the capital to go on an acquisitions spree to bolster its global reach. That way it will be more likely to have a successful public listing in the U.S. later.
Yanolja may soon receive the heaviest of heavyweight endorsements. SoftBank Group's $30 billion Vision Fund wants to pick up a 10 percent stake in the South Korea-based travel company, according to a report.
The world's largest venture capital fund is set to announce an investment of about $800 million in the startup, the Seoul Economic Daily reported, citing investment banking sources.
The companies declined to answer Skift's questions earlier this week on the rumored financing talks.
It isn't clear what valuation the investment might place on Yanolja, which is an online travel agency, a hotel tech provider, and a hotel operator. The company had a $1 billion valuation in 2019 when Booking Holdings and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC participated in a $180 million funding round and collectively took an approximately 35 percent to 40 percent stake in Yanolja.
Until recently, Yanolja had been preparing to go public and had hired Mirae Asset Daewoo and Samsung Securities as underwriters. Yet while the startup is profitable and genera
