Kakao Mobility, a ride hailing spinout of South Korea-based internet company Kakao, raised $200m from private equity firm Carlyle Group yesterday.
Carlyle Group is supplying the capital through its Carlyle Asia Partners V vehicle.
Kakao Mobility operates an app-based ride hailing service with 28 million users. The company was launched by Kakao in 2015 before being spun off two years later.
TPG led a $437m round at the time of Kakao Mobility’s spinning off. The round was also backed by financial services provider Orix, Korea Investment Partners, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Teacher Retirement System of Texas and University of California Retirement Plan.
The latter three investors returned in 2018 for a $46.6m funding round.
Carlyle’s investment will serve to drive Kakao Mobility’s growth, an expansion into additional business areas and technology development.
Ryu Gung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, said: “Our partnership with Carlyle will enable us to expedite our growth strategy for our smart mobility platform, which aims to create a more comfortable and convenient mobility experience for users.
“As a leading mobility player, we will work with various companies in the mobility industry to build an ecosystem through our Kakao T platform by focusing on the customers and improving service quality.”
