Hailo, a UK-based taxi application for mobile devices, has raised $30.6m from a consortium including Japan-based phone operator KDDI.
KDDI signed an exclusive partnership leveraging its 35 million subscribers to support Hailo’s launches in Asia, starting with Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo has 40,000 taxis and the Japanese taxi market is estimated at $25bn, Hailo said.
Venture capital firm Union Square Ventures led the investment syndicate, which also include Richard Branson, founder of local conglomerate Virgin Group. The other investors were venture…