Photo-sharing service Path has been acquired by Daum Kakoa, the company behind the popular Kakao Talk messaging app, for an undisclosed sum.

While created by a US-based firm, Path and Path Talk, its messaging app, have never become popular in America or Europe, instead finding an audience in Asia, in particular Indonesia, where it competes with services like Line.

Path and Path Talk will continue to operate independently of Kakao Talk, but will increasingly focus on the Southeast Asian market, utilising Daum Kakaos understanding of the local market to grow its user base.

“We have reached a tipping point on our journey and for Path to truly grow we need more resources and a larger local team that deeply understands Southeast Asian markets,” said Dave Morin, CEO and co-founder of Path. “Daum Kakaos extensive experience in mobile innovation along with a network of millions of users will ensure continued and reliable service.”

“Paths strong user base in the fast growing Indonesian market makes it a powerful candidate for growth into a mobile lifestyle platform with rich services that impacts users on a daily basis,” said Alex Kim, head of Daum Kakao Indonesia. “We believe there is huge potential for Daum Kakao and Path in the global market, and we are looking forward to bringing out meaningful synergy with other Daum Kakao services and provide greater value to our users.”

Interestingly, while the Path and Path Talk apps are the companys flagship products, it has retained independent control of its Places b2c messaging service. Places was an addition to the Path Talk messaging app that enabled users to communicate with local businesses, either directly or through a team of Path liaisons.

While the Places service never established a huge audience, it did have a loyal following among a small group of users. Following the deal, the service appears to have stopped working within Path Talk, prompting speculation over what the remains of Path plans to do with the feature divorced from its other apps.