Kakao Taxi to launch in U.S., Australia this year

Kakao Mobility aims to launch its cab-hailing service Kakao Taxi in the U.S. and Australian markets within this year, an initiative helped by the acquisition of Splypt in March.

Splyt CEO Philipp Mintchin, center, with his translator, left, and Cho Hye-won, the head of Kakao Mobility’s global business planning, at a roundtable press event to introduce Kakao Mobility’s global strategy in southern Seoul on Friday. [KAKAO MOBILITY]

Kakao Mobility aims to launch its cab-hailing service Kakao Taxi in the U.S. and Australian markets within this year, an initiative helped by the acquisition of Splypt in March.

The subsidiary of Kakao already operates in more than 30 countries, but not in those two countries.

Splyt, a London-based software company, interlinks different travel-related apps, including mobility, to allow users to enjoy other services through one app without having to download each individual app. For instance, through Splyt, local users who are traveling in Vietnam can call for a Grab through the Kakao Taxi app without downloading the Grab app.

“We plan to enter the U.S. and Australian markets this year, and also expand to Hong Kong and Taiwan within the next year— regions that are popular to Korean travelers,” said Cho Hye-won, the head of Kakao Mobility’s global business planning at the press event in southern Seoul on Friday. “Tackling the U.S. market is especially important to us, because standards and regulations related to mobility services are different based on the states. However, if we can penetrate the market, we anticipate high gains based on the partnerships we form there.”

The strategy works both ways: Foreign riders who use different ride-hailing services may be able to call a Kakao Taxi with its app when they come to Korea.

Splyt has more than 100 clients such as Uber, Grab, Booking.com, Trip.com, Alipay and Wechat.

The in-bound service is readying itself for launch, although the date has yet to be announced. The technological development for the in-bound service is complete, but the list of what kind of global apps will be docked to Kakao Taxi is yet to be revealed.

“Technologically, anything is possible,” said Splyt CEO Philipp Mintchin. “[However], from our point of view, we only provide the application programming interface, we don’t actually make the operation decisions.”

At frequently-visited destinations where Splyt’s partners are not located, the company is making direct partnerships to connect their services, like it has done for Guam’s cab-hailing service Miki Taxi.

“We’ve rolled out other tailored services in partnership with Miki Taxi, such as taxi booking services at the airport, implementation of family-friendly SUV vehicles, Taxi tours, and car rentals — all based on user demand,” Cho said. “We plan to continue to expand travel-related services through Kakao Taxi.”

Global expansion from one ride-hailing service to other travel-related services are not limited to Guam, Cho says. Kakao Mobility’s ultimate goal is to offer a seamless travel experience, where all travel-related bookings or reservations, even paying for public transportation, could be done through Kakao Taxi.

“Our final goal is to have all travel-related services in the palm of your hand, in this case, that would be the Kakao Taxi app,” Cho said. “This is a completely new territory for us, so plans related to what kind of partners or how the service integration could be made will be revealed at a later date.”

Kakao Mobility acquired Splyt in March, although the size of the deal or the stake were not disclosed.

It was Kakao Mobility’s first overseas acquisition since the transport app operator split from its parent company Kakao in 2017.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]