T Map Mobility raises pre-IPO funding of $359 mn from two PE firms

T Map Mobility Co., a latecomer in the mobility service provider backed by Korea’s top wireless carrier SK Telecom Co., drew pre-IPO funding of $359 million from two private equity funds for ammunitions to better compete with Kakao Mobility front-running in the app-based ride-hailing market.

According to multiple sources from the investment bank industry on Thursday, T Map Mobility signed into an agreement to issue $178 million worth shares each to Affirma Capital and EastBridge Partners. The equity deal is led by Standard Chartered Securities.

T Map Mobility, a navigation service spun off from SK Telecom last year to expand to app-based mobility platform, promised the funders to go public by 2025.

As the pre-IPO funding drew just two preliminary bidders Affirma Capital and EastBridge Partners, SK Telecom proposed them an equal share in the company.

T Map Mobility plans to use the funds to enhance competitiveness of its new businesses. The company is expected to draw up a growth blueprint with the two private equity funds and its strategic partner Uber, a global ride-hailing platform with $50 million equity in T Map Mobility and over $100 million in their joint venture UT.

The T Map entry is expected to intensify the crowded ride-hailing market and pose a formidable challenge to Kakao dominance. Kakao Mobility also announced recently that it would raise an additional $268 million from Carlyle Group, GS Group, and Google. The company under the country’s top mobile messenger app Kakao Talk commands 80 percent of the market.