L ee Su-jin is a South Korean tech entrepreneur and the founder of Yanolja, which translates to "Hey, let's play" in Korean. He is a self-made billionaire with a true rags-to-riches story. Orphaned as a child, he worked in a variety of low-wage jobs, including as a janitor in so-called "love hotels," to make ends meet. It was this experience that gave him the idea to transform the image and business model of South Korea's short-stay hotel industry. He started an online community for hotel operators before launching Yanolja as a hotel booking platform in 2007.
Under Lee's leadership, Yanolja has grown from a simple booking site for budget hotels into a comprehensive travel and hospitality super-app. The company offers bookings for a wide range of accommodations, leisure activities, and transportation. It has also become a major provider of cloud-based property management software to hotels, automating their operations. Yanolja has attracted significant investment from major global players, including SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 and Booking.com parent Booking Holdings, turning it into one of South Korea's most successful unicorns. Lee's journey from poverty to the helm of a tech giant is a source of inspiration in the country.
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Lee Su-jin is a South Korean businessman, the self-made billionaire Founder and Executive Chairman of Yanolja (KRX: 304560), a major travel technology company and the largest online accommodation booking platform in South Korea. His career is rooted in extreme poverty and entrepreneurial resilience.
Lee's early life was marked by hardship: he was orphaned at a young age and grew up in poverty. He worked his way through school and served in the military. His career began humbly, working 100-day construction jobs and later cleaning love hotels (short-stay hotels) for four years, earning a meager wage.
Lee Su-jin's strategic genius was his commitment to digitalizing budget accommodation. He founded Yanolja (meaning 'Hey, let's play!' in Korean) in 2007, initially as an online platform to provide information and transparency about 'love hotels. He expanded the platform into a full-service travel technology company, providing cloud-based property management software for hotels globally.
His structural contribution is immense: modernizing the accommodation industry and successfully transforming the image of budget travel. Yanolja executed its successful IPO and became one of the largest tech companies in South Korea, securing his multi-billion dollar fortune. He remains Executive Chairman, guiding the company's global expansion (partnering with SoftBank and Booking Holdings).
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Works 100-day construction jobs and cleans love hotels (Early Struggle).
Founds Yanolja (meaning Hey, let's play!) (Founding).
Yanolja secures major funding and achieves unicorn status (Financial Milestone).
Yanolja executes its successful IPO (Financial Apex).
Continues as Founder and Executive Chairman, guiding the global travel tech giant (Executive Oversight).
Lee Su-jin's wealth is concentrated in his founding equity and continued executive leadership of the publicly traded technology giant, Yanolja (KRX: 304560), and its related ventures.
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Lee Su-jin's social impact is structural, stemming from Yanolja's role in driving the digital transformation of the hospitality industry and providing affordable, transparent accommodation options for millions of travelers. The company provides thousands of stable jobs in the technology and travel sectors. His personal philanthropy supports various community and educational initiatives.
His career is a powerful narrative of resilience: an orphan who worked his way up from cleaning hotels to founding a multi-billion dollar technology company that transformed the industry.
Lee Su-jin maintains the professional, composed style of a technology executive. His attire is consistently formal and high-quality, favoring tailored suits. His aesthetic reflects serious authority and stability, typical of a pioneer in the specialized travel technology sector.
Residing in Seoul, South Korea, his luxury is the immense security and financial reward derived from his multi-billion dollar fortune. His life is dedicated to technology innovation, strategic management, and the long-term, stable growth of the travel tech empire.
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-0.28% | -$9.09M
+0.21% | +$2.51M
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