CEO Jung Myung-hoon of YogiYeoTtae, Who Raised a 'Unicorn' in Just One Year of Inauguration, "The Happiest Year of My Life"

Jung Myung-hoon, Yeogi Yeo Ddae CEO
Introducing Rental Cars and Space Rentals
Sales Soar Through Business Diversification
Rises as a 'Unicorn' Company

Jung Myung-hoon, CEO of Yanolja, is giving an interview to Asia Economy at 479 Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] "Over the past year, I was so happy that I looked forward to coming to work every morning. If I look back on this period 20 years from now, it will probably be the happiest year of my life."

Jeong Myung-hoon, who recently marked his first anniversary as the head of the accommodation and leisure platform Yanolja, has experienced a turning point and a great challenge in his life. Having long worked as a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) expert in the investment banking (IB) industry, the role of CEO at Yanolja meant more than just investment value as a business asset; it involved direct management, driving growth, and caring for the lives of the employees within the company.

Despite increased roles and responsibilities, Jeong is happy because his work brings joy to many people. He said, "What we do is help people enjoy leisure and travel conveniently and affordably. This sense of purpose itself is meaningful and instills pride in our work, which motivates us to work harder."

Since Jeong took office, Yanolja has transformed from a simple accommodation platform into a comprehensive platform encompassing travel and leisure. All the new businesses recently launched by Yanolja, such as overseas travel, car rentals, and space rentals, were created after his appointment. Thanks to this diversification, even amid the COVID-19 situation, last year's sales reached 204.9 billion KRW, a 59.2% increase from the previous year. Operating profit rose 34.9% to 15.5 billion KRW. Along with strong performance in accommodation, cross-selling of related activities, restaurants, airline tickets, and car rentals enhanced the overall platform's dynamism. The transaction volume of non-accommodation product categories increased by 57.4% year-on-year.

Yanolja recently became a 'unicorn' company with a corporate valuation exceeding 1 trillion KRW. During a recent investment round of about 50 billion KRW from Mirae Asset Group, it was valued at 10 billion USD (approximately 1.2 trillion KRW). This represents a threefold growth in about two and a half years compared to when the UK private equity firm CVC Capital acquired Yanolja for 400 billion KRW in September 2019.

Jeong attributes the rapid unicorn status to closing the gap with overseas online travel agencies (OTAs). He explained that domestic OTAs gained competitiveness over foreign OTAs by being able to respond immediately to issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeong said, "We held meetings every morning to decide which promotions to run and how to improve usability, then applied these changes by the afternoon, quickly responding to consumer feedback. Even if overseas OTAs had domestic operations, such immediate responses would have been difficult." He added, "During this process, the quality and number of coverage areas we manage, such as hotels, camping sites, and resorts, improved. Now, the gap with overseas OTAs has narrowed to the point where consumers naturally open the Yanolja app when traveling domestically."

As quality competitiveness in the existing accommodation business improved and user numbers increased, Jeong quickly expanded the business scope. His first focus was on the 'transportation' sector, which is inevitably connected to travel. In October last year, Yanolja acquired a 20% stake in Online Tour, which has 20 years of experience, and secured a call option for additional future investments, adding the 'airline' category. A month later, they introduced a real-time car rental price comparison service, establishing the transportation backbone. Jeong explained, "The real-time deal sales of airline tickets and car rentals received a good response, so we decided to develop this into an independent business. This service is also showing satisfactory results as it is linked with our accommodation offerings."

Jung Myung-hoon, CEO of Yanolja, is giving an interview to Asia Economy at 479 Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Jeong's ambitious new business launched earlier this year is space rental. Through Yanolja, users can book party rooms, recording studios, studios, performance halls, shared kitchens, and more. Although such spaces are abundant in daily life, there has been almost no system to aggregate and connect them to consumers. Jeong said, "This service started from the desire to create memorable experiences in life," adding, "Recently, daily transaction volume surpassed 100 million KRW, with consumption rapidly increasing, especially among young women." He also mentioned plans to gradually increase the types of rentable spaces and introduce about six to seven new domestic and international airline and leisure-related services this year.

Along with the company's growth, Jeong is also concerned about creating a good working environment. Yanolja recently made remote work permanent. This contrasts with some companies that have abolished remote work after social distancing measures were lifted. The company also plans to continue the 4.5-day workweek, which excludes Monday morning work. Jeong emphasized, "A good working environment is one of the key factors in attracting talented individuals who will drive the company's growth. We plan to continuously develop the company's decision-making structure and evaluation and compensation systems to ensure these talents remain with us."