Who owns Kakao Map?
Kakao Map is owned by Kakao (South Korea, KRX: 035720).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Kakao Company Presentation, February 2026, Kakao Corp, 1 February 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Kakao Corp. reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇰🇷 South Korea, Jeju
- Origin
- 🇰🇷 South Korea
- Category
- Internet & digital › Digital services › Maps & navigation
- Parent ticker
- KRX: 035720
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Kakao Map
Kakao Map is the group's mapping and navigation service, offering routes by car, public transport, bicycle and on foot, with push alerts telling passengers when to board and alight. Kakao positions it as much for discovery as for navigation, with Nearby and Theme Map features that recommend restaurants and places, and it runs turn-by-turn navigation without a separate app download.
Ownership timeline of Kakao Map
Where Kakao Map sits in Kakao
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Kakao ownership tree →
See the full Kakao brand portfolio (6) →
Other brands owned by Kakao
Kakao controls 6 brands on Brandtree, 5 of them in internet & digital.
Also in internet & digital
Other brands in maps & navigation, and who owns them
The 15 brands in maps & navigation on Brandtree belong to 11 owners. The largest is Garmin, with 2.
About the owner: Kakao
Kakao is a publicly listed company headquartered in Jeju, South Korea. Brandtree records 6 brands under its control, and it is listed as KRX: 035720.
Kakao is the South Korean internet group built around KakaoTalk, a messaging app with 49 million monthly users in a country of 52 million, and it monetises that position through advertising, gifting and commerce inside the app. Around it sit partly owned subsidiaries covering mobility, payments, banking, music streaming, webtoons and games, most of which Kakao holds well short of outright. Consolidated revenue reached a record 8.1 trillion won in 2025. Its web portal Daum, long the group's second pillar, was separated out as AXZ and left the group; it is absent from Kakao's February 2026 ownership chart.
🇰🇷 Kakao Map and other South Korean brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 185 brands that began in South Korea. 7 of them (4%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Kakao Map is not one of them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Kakao Map?
The parent company of Kakao Map is Kakao, a publicly listed company headquartered in South Korea.
Is Kakao Map South Korean?
Yes. Kakao Map originated in South Korea and its owner, Kakao, is also headquartered in South Korea.
Is Kakao Map still owned by Kakao?
Yes. As of 28 September 2026, Kakao Map is still owned by Kakao. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Kakao Company Presentation, February 2026 — Kakao Corp., Official document, published 1 February 2026; retrieved 28 September 2026.
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