Kakao Mobility acquires London-based software company Splyt

A Kakao T taxi [YONHAP]

Kakao Mobility acquired Splyt, a London-based software company, in a bid to accelerate its global expansion, the company said Wednesday.

The deal is Kakao Mobility's first overseas acquisition since the transportation app operator split off from its parent company Kakao in 2017.

Kakao Mobility did not disclose the size of the deal or its shareholding in Splyt.

Founded in 2015, Splyt supports IT service providers in a variety of mobility and travel-related sectors to integrate their apps with other services.

Kakao Mobility has been working with the British company since 2019, and began to offer Splyt’s Bolt ride-hailing service through the Kakao T app last year.

Splyt’s customers include global mobility and hotel reservation service apps like Uber, Grab, Booking.com and Trip.com., as well as Chinese firms like Alipay and WeChat.

Kakao Mobility, which offers a wide range of mobility services, including taxi-hailing, designated drivers, electric bike hire, parking and navigation, said it will use Splyt's assets to push its global business expansion in Asia and Europe.

Kakao Mobility hopes to tap into Splyt’s local network in the European region to further ramp up its global presence, while also targeting demand from Chinese tourists heading overseas.

Kakao Mobility is operating in 32 countries worldwide, according to the company.

“As Kakao Mobility established a new partnership with Splyt based on efforts to achieve a win-win relationship and the platform technology capabilities, we will take a step forward in our journey to the global market through a close cooperation with Splyt,” said Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Gung-seon.

BY SHIN HA-NEE, YONHAP [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]