Friendster, a subsidiary of MOL Global is set to sign a deal with Korea’s Kakao Corp next week that would make Friendster the exclusive partner of Kakao in Malaysia.
Via the soon the signed agreement, Friendster will market, promote and launch the Kakao platform in Malaysia with localized content and services. Friendster said it will leverage on its mobile assets in the country which include’s Malaysia’s largest Free WiFi network; Friendster WiFi and Friendster iCafe to promote and distribute the Kakao platform in Malaysia.
Kakao initially began in 2006 under the name ‘IWILAB’ focusing on web 2.0 social networking services. In early 2010, IWILAB shifted its attention to mobile communication, and launched KakaoTalk for iOS in March. In September 2010, a month after the launch of KakaoTalk for Android, the company was renamed to Kakao Corp. and became the provider messaging service KakaoTalk.
The company was founded by Beom-su Kim, who was also the founder of Hangame, a popular web gaming site in Korea. Hangame merged with Naver in 2000 to form NHN. Beom-su Kim assumed role as CEO of NHN, but left the company in 2006 to found IWILAB. Currently Beom-su Kim acts as the Chairman of KakaoTalk, while Jae-Beom Lee, one of the founding members of IWILAB, and Sirgoo Lee, previously CEO of NHN USA, heads the company as co-CEOs.
Kakao, a Korean based application developer for smartphones has more than four key applications ranging from KakaoTalk for chatting, KakaoStory to share stories with pictures with friends, KakaoPoll to create simple surveys to be shared with friends and KakaoAlbum to compile pictures of different occasions in one place.
On its website, Kakao claims that it has more than 82 million users.
More details on TheTechInsider next week.