Carlyle to invest $200m in Korea's Kakao Mobility
The Carlyle Group has invested $200 million in Kakao Mobility, a transportation-focused spinout from Korea’s Kakao Corporation that offers taxi-hailing, designated driver, and other services.
The private equity firm is committing capital from its fifth pan-Asian fund, which closed at $6.55 billion in 2018. TPG Capital is already an investor in Kakao Mobility, having led a consortium that contributed KRW500 billion ($437.5 million) in July 2017, around the time the company separated from its parent. The transaction valued Kakao Mobility at KRW1.6 trillion and left Kakao with a 69.3% stake.
Launched in 2015, Kakao Mobility claims to be Kore’s largest mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platform with 28 million registered users. It started out as a taxi-hailing service and expanded into areas such as designated driver services – popular among individuals who need to get home after a few drinks – electric bicycle rental, and shuttle bus services.
The Kakao T mobile app provides a single point of access. It also leverages real-time information sourced through the Kakao Mobility network to predict traffic volumes, offer navigation and route-planning services, and track parking lot vacancies.
“Under the leadership of a seasoned management team, Kakao Mobility has grown into South Korea’s largest MaaS platform with strong data analytics and technology capabilities. We are excited about our partnership and believe our technology expertise and global network will help accelerate the company’s growth and continue innovation to bring long-term value to the society,” John Kim, a managing director at Carlyle, said in a statement.
Kakao is the product of a 2014 merger between Kakao and Daum Communications, Korea's top mobile messaging provider and one of its leading web portals, respectively. Services range from messaging and email to gaming and mobile payment. Revenue reached KRW4.1 trillion in 2020, of which KRW550.1 billion came from new platform business lines such as mobility, payment, and enterprise services.
Kakao has brought private equity and strategic investors into several of its subsidiaries. TPG has exposure to Kakao Bank as well as to Kakao Mobility, while Anchor Equity Partners holds stakes in music and entertainment division Kakao M and digital content marketplace Kakao Page.
Other Korean mobility businesses have attracted private equity funding, notably car-sharing platform Socar. Backers include Bain Capital’s VC unit, IMM Private Equity, Altos Ventures, SoftBank Ventures Asia, KB Investment, StoneBridge Ventures, Eugene Private Equity, and SG Private Equity, according to AVCJ Research’s records.
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