Kakao Corp.

Kakao is a leading South Korean information technology company created in October 2014 by a merger between Daum Communications, the operator of the Daum search engine, and Kakao, the provider of the KakaoTalk chat app. It has been adding new services, such as mobile payments, to attract more users in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Kakao's search engine market share in South Korea has been hovering at some 20%, lagging behind Naver, another Seoul-based company. But KakaoTalk has more than 37 million monthly active users, meaning that over 70% of South Koreans use the instant messaging service -- an outstanding market presence.

Kakao has been adding services, including online shopping, taxi hailing and music streaming, to add more value to KakaoTalk. Currently, advertising and games generate most of its revenue, but earnings from digital content and e-commerce operations are rising.

Kakao is behind WhatsApp, from U.S.-based Facebook; WeChat, from China-based Tencent Holdings; and Line, from Naver; as far as number of users and global scale go. But it is trying to gain Southeast Asian users and recently acquired Path, a U.S.-based social network that has gained a degree of popularity in Indonesia.