Stage Five has acquired AI location data specialist Loflat and will move to develop new businesses.

Stage Five said on Sept. 2 it secured Loflat shares through a comprehensive share swap and will make it a subsidiary. Loflat will maintain its existing business structure after the acquisition.

Loflat is an AI location technology company that analyses people’s locations, visits and movement information. It has technology that can identify locations indoors and underground where the Global Positioning System (GPS) does not reach, based on more than 600,000 points of interest (POIs) nationwide and more than 100 million WiFi access point maps (AP maps).

It also runs businesses such as location-based marketing, foot traffic analysis and digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH) effectiveness analysis, using the visit and movement data it collects.

Stage Five will apply Loflat’s location technology to its telecom services, including its budget phone brand Pindirect, to improve service quality and develop new services. It will also identify location-based services for children and senior customers, and new data businesses.

Stage Five Chief Executive Seo Sang-won (서상원) said, "This acquisition is a decision to provide customers with more complete services while diversifying our businesses." He added, "We will strengthen our competitiveness by introducing services with differentiated benefits and convenience."