Kakao Mobility bought super-app enabler Splyt, its first acquisition abroad

Splyt is a London startup whose API lets apps in travel, ride-hailing and finance plug in other services for super-app strategies; Kakao Mobility is South Korean Kakao's ride-hailing subsidiary.

Owning Splyt's global ride-hailing integration platform lets Kakao Mobility expand across Southeast Asia and Europe faster than building partnerships one by one.

Terms not disclosed; Splyt had raised $33.5 million from SoftBank, Grab, AmEx and others per PitchBook, including a SoftBank-led $19.5 million round in 2019

Splyt and Kakao Mobility's technology teams had collaborated since 2019 to integrate global ride-hailing for Kakao T users via Splyt's API platform. Kakao Mobility offered limited services in about 30 markets outside South Korea, most recently launching in Guam and Laos.

Splyt raised $33.5 million, including a $19.5 million SoftBank-led round in 2019, but stopped providing updates about its business in July 2022, as the on-demand super-app boom faded. Kakao Mobility, 58% owned by Kakao, had shelved a stake sale to a private equity firm after driver and employee pushback and put an IPO on hold.

Kakao Mobility acquired Splyt, including its technology and about 30 staff, who will join its roughly 950 employees; key Splyt management moves to South Korea. It is unclear whether Kakao will use the tech for partners worldwide or to extend Kakao T, which has about 32 million registered users. TechCrunch said the deal may not have been a strong outcome for Splyt.

Kakao Mobility already used Splyt's ride-hailing API for Kakao T, so the buy secured a technology it relied on.

It wanted to raise its international profile and expand beyond its limited services in about 30 markets outside South Korea.

The super-app boom that funded Splyt had cooled, leaving the startup without updates since July 2022 and open to a buyer.

The deal adds Splyt's roughly 30 staff and its global super-app network to Kakao Mobility's roughly 950 employees.

A buyer that already depends on a small vendor's technology can acquire it to secure the capability, especially when the vendor's own funding cycle has turned.

As of 2023-03-21 the deal was announced and the combined plan was described only as creating a new mobility service on a global super-app network. TechCrunch said it was not clear how Kakao would use Splyt's technology. The price and later results were not reported.