Macaron Taxi Secures 18 Billion KRW Series A Investment

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] KST Mobility, the operator of 'Macaron Taxi,' announced on the 15th that it has secured 5 billion KRW in investment from NHN, completing a Series A funding round totaling 18 billion KRW.

Strategic investors (SI) in KST Mobility's Series A funding include NHN (5 billion KRW) recently and Hyundai Kia Motors (5 billion KRW) last year. Financial investors (FI) such as Dadam Investment, Magna Investment, Samho Green Investment, and Yeollim Partners participated with a total investment of 8 billion KRW.

In addition to this Series A funding, KST Mobility previously raised 5 billion KRW in seed investment from Neoply in 2018. Combining the Series A and seed investments, the total funding amounts to 23 billion KRW.

KST Mobility plans to use the investment to expand the Macaron Taxi business infrastructure and service cooperation models, strengthen marketing, and advance platform technologies based on big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to grow its market presence.

In particular, through NHN's strategic investment, KST Mobility will pursue various service cooperation models with NHN.

KST Mobility and NHN will first introduce the simple payment system 'PAYCO' to Macaron Taxi. They are also considering joint development of various user-customized services based on destination or consumer lifestyle information, as well as integrated reservation services that meet mobility demand.

KST Mobility has currently surpassed 3,000 subscribers in the Seoul area alone and has signed a business agreement with the Seoul Private Taxi Association to promote the establishment of a platform for a new electric taxi brand, Switch. KST Mobility plans to fully launch its taxi franchise business in the Seoul area early this year.

Lee Haeng-yeol, CEO of KST Mobility, stated, "Despite the challenging atmosphere in the mobility industry, we have successfully completed the Series A investment, laying the foundation to transform taxis from mere means of transportation into enjoyable service hubs." He added, "With NHN, which made this strategic investment, we will create special changes to build Korea's MaaS (Mobility as a Service) ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.