On the Launch Day of 'Wooty', Kakao Mobility Joins Hands with Google... The Beginning of the Mobility War

-Kakao Mobility secures 56.5 billion KRW investment from Google
-"Creating synergy through strategic partnership"
-Joint venture Uti launched by Uber and Tmap Mobility
-Attention on whether it can become a game changer in the domestic taxi sharing platform market

[Asia Economy Reporters Nahum Kang and Minyoung Cha] The competition among companies to dominate the domestic mobility market is intensifying. With the official launch of UT LLC, a joint venture between Uber and Tmap Mobility, Kakao Mobility has successfully secured large-scale investments one after another to maintain its top market share.

On the 1st, Kakao Mobility announced that it had secured a $50 million (56.5 billion KRW) investment from Google. Through a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase, Google acquired a 1.7% stake in Kakao Mobility.

This comes less than two months after receiving a $200 million (220 billion KRW) investment from the global investment firm Carlyle Group in February. Kakao Mobility was valued at approximately 3.4765 trillion KRW in this latest investment.

Leveraging this investment, the two companies plan to prioritize cooperation in service innovation to enhance user experience and discover new businesses that contribute to market growth. They also aim to explore ways to support the innovation of capable domestic companies and contribute to the growth of the IT ecosystem.

Kakao Mobility has built a service portfolio by securing vast mobility data necessary for technological advancement through its app ‘KakaoT’ and establishing a virtuous cycle system that can quickly commercialize this technology.

Based on this extensive service portfolio, discussions will focus on ▲advancing cloud-based AI technology and comprehensive collaboration related to cloud IoT ▲exploring platform synergy between Google services and Kakao Mobility ▲integrated cooperation on various OS (operating system) software to enhance user experience and seeking new business opportunities.

The two companies have also agreed to regularly devise cooperation plans to create synergy through their strategic partnership. Ultimately, their goal is to discover technology-based new business opportunities and present growth engines in both domestic and global markets.

Industry insiders view Kakao Mobility’s announcement as a move to counter UT LLC, the joint venture between Uber and Tmap Mobility.

Tmap Mobility, a subsidiary of SK Telecom, operates the mobility platform Tmap and Tmap Taxi, which hold a 70% market share in the domestic market. Tmap Taxi is the second-largest taxi-hailing service in Korea with 200,000 registered drivers and 750,000 monthly users. Uber, the world’s largest ride-sharing company, currently operates about 1,000 affiliated taxis in the Seoul metropolitan area.

The newly established corporation UT, officially launched on this day, is expected to introduce a new type of service and brand that integrates the existing ‘Uber Taxi’ and ‘Tmap Taxi’ services as early as this summer. Tmap Mobility stated, "The official service name and launch date have not yet been decided," adding, "Until the integrated service is launched, Uber and Tmap Mobility services will continue as they are."

UT is expected to combine Tmap Taxi drivers, map and vehicle traffic analysis technology, and Uber’s global operational experience and platform technology to develop an innovative taxi-hailing business that enhances consumer convenience.

Industry experts believe that UT will be the only rival to Kakao Mobility’s ‘KakaoT’ service, which currently dominates the domestic taxi-sharing platform market.

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