SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund II is investing about $1.7 billion in Yanolja Co., giving South Korea’s largest travel app extra capital ahead of an initial public offering.
The Seoul-based startup said it plans to use the money to expand geographically and push efforts to bring digital technologies to the travel and hospitality industry. The deal will boost Yanolja’s valuation to more than 10 trillion won ($9 billion), according to people familiar with the matter. The company declined to comment on the latest valuation and the amount of stake that SoftBank will acquire.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has been expanding his investments in South Korea, a strategy that paid off as Coupang Inc. pulled off the country’s largest IPO in more than a decade. The e-commerce giant helped SoftBank post the highest profit ever for a Japanese company in May, and paved the way for a wave of Korean startup debuts from PUBG-developer Krafton Inc. to Kakao Pay.