(Bloomberg) — South Korean travel app Yanolja Co., backed by SoftBank Group Corp., aims to raise $400 million in a U.S. initial public offering, people familiar with the situation said.
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The Seoul-based startup’s offering, which could launch in July, could value the company at between $7 billion and $9 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are expected to lead the IPO, the people said.
The company has not yet made a final decision and details of the offering could still change, the people said. Some features of Yanolja’s listing plans were previously reported by the Korea Times and Invest Chosun.
Representatives from SoftBank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Yanolja declined to comment.
Yanolja is the latest portfolio company that SoftBank is trying to list on the public market, as founder Masayoshi Son turns to artificial intelligence and related hardware. It took Arm Holdings Plc public in the US in a roughly $5 billion listing in September, but still controls most of the chip designer.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund II invested about $1.7 billion in Yanolja in 2021. Founded in 2005, Yanolja acquired Israeli technology provider Go Global Travel Ltd.
Yanolja has been expanding its cloud arm serving the hospitality and leisure sectors to grow beyond consumer travel bookings, competing with rivals such as Airbnb Inc. and Expedia Group Inc.
Last year, Yanolja hired Alexandre Ibrahim, a former New York Stock Exchange executive, as corporate chief financial officer. It also set up its U.S. office in Manhattan in March as a strategic hub for North American expansion. The New York office is the 50th abroad.
–With help from Yoolim Lee.
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