December 22, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea largest accommodation booking firm Yanolja said on Oct. 10 it has signed a partnership deal with blockchain firm Terra to develop blockchain-based payment solutions and run joint marketing schemes.

Terra is a blockchain payment solutions developer founded by Shin Hyun-seong, co-founder of e-commerce giant TMON. It has attracted 36 billion won (US$31.75 million) funding from big name blockchain investors including Binance Labs, Polychain Capital, OKEx, Huobi Capital and Hashed.

The firm said that it would try to adopt a safer and more advanced payment system, including reservation apps for hotels, leisure and activities, through the partnership. In order to give benefits to users, Yanolja said that it also plans to give discounts to those using its blockchain-based services.

“The company has decided to work with Tera to join the blockchain trend and beef up competitiveness in the looming fourth industrial revolution,” Yanolja CEO Lee Su-jin said.

Yanolja, which first started as a motel booking firm, has been expanding its presence in different fields, such as mobile booking platforms for leisure and activities, and guesthouses.

It currently partners with 1,000 hotels in Korea as well as in six Southeast Asian nations, and plans to quintuple the number by 2020.

The company is working with Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce firm that runs leisure and travel businesses, to offer hotel-booking services in Japan and Korea, and it acquired ZEN Rooms, one of the leading budget hotel booking companies in Southeast Asia, for US$15 million in July this year.

By Kim Young-won(wone0102@heraldcorp.com)