South Korea-based short-term accommodation services provider Yanolja received $180m in series D funding today from online travel platform Booking Holdings and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, Reuters reported.
The round valued Yanolja at more than $1bn and followed reports yesterday that the company had raised as much as $200m in funding. The company is gearing up for an initial public offering as early as 2020, chief executive Kim Jong-yoon told Reuters.
Founded in 2005, Yanolja converts rooms in guest houses, bed and breakfasts and love hotels, which offer short-term stays catered to romantic couples, into modern short-term accommodation aimed at millennial couples and tourists on a budget.
Yanolja has begun expanding internationally and invested $15m in Singapore-based hotel booking platform Zen Rooms in August 2018. It will form a strategic partnership with Agoda, a hotel booking platform operated by Booking Holdings, following the latest round.
The company is also hoping to expand its offering and increase operational efficiency through technologies such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things, though it has not yet revealed any specifics.
Yanolja had previously secured $53.2m in funding from private equity firm SkyLake Investment in 2017, after private equity firm Partners Investment had supplied $8.5m in 2015.
