(image: Kakao Mobility)
SEOUL, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Mobility Corp., a mobility subsidiary of South Korea’s tech giant Kakao Corp, said Wednesday that it has acquired the British ride-hailing startup Splyt as part of its plans to go abroad.
“The acquisition of Splyt is Kakao Mobility’s first overseas purchase deal,” the Korean company said in a release. “It will help Kakao Mobility secure a foothold to tap into the global mobility market.”
Kakao Mobility did not disclose the financial terms of the deal or its stake in Splyt.
Splyt, founded in 2015 in London, is a platform that provides connections for overall transportation services from ride hailing and food delivery to traveling and public transportation.
It partners with global mobility and hotel reservation service apps like Uber, Grab, Booking.com and Trip.com., as well as Chinese firms like Alipay and WeChat, linking 2 billion users in 150 countries across the globe.
Kakao Mobility, which offers a wide range of mobility services, including taxi-hailing, designated driver, electric bike hire, parking and navigation, said it will use Splyt’s assets to push its global business expansion in Asia and Europe.
The company is offering mobility services in Guam and Laos.
“The acquisition will help the company tap into the European market based on Splyt’s taxi-hailing network and deal with growing outbound tourist demand from China,” it said.
(Yonhap)
