Viva Republica, which operates South Korea’s financial super app throw awayhas secured a $405 million Series G funding, which it said raised its current valuation of KRW 9.1 trillion ($7 billion) from KRW 8.5 trillion raised in June 2021. $410 million in pre-series F funding Valuation of $7.4 billion (8.5 trillion won)(The Korean currency is It fell against the dollar this year. )
The company’s recent funding has caught our attention, including showing the company is doing relatively well amid a bleak macroeconomic outlook. Global fintech companyinclude Klarna, stripeWhen Checkout.comIn 2022, after seeing its valuation drop quite dramatically, Viva Republica raised its valuation again.
Viva Republica also had some hiring activity in October, which is in stark contrast to many companies. Global technology companyinclude Fintech startup, which is undergoing major layoffs this year. The Seoul-based company has about 1,900 employees as of August.
Fintech-focused investor Tonic Private Equity led Series G round alongside repeat investors including Korea Development Bank (KDB), Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Greyhound Capital, Aspex Management, Bond Capital and DUMAC . Korea Investment & Securities also participated in the fundraising. The fintech firm will complete its first and second series G closes, approximately $226 million (295.8 billion won) and $175.8 million (229.3 billion won), respectively, in the third quarter of 2022. , said it has completed his third close of a new funding round. in November.
Viva Republica’s chief operating officer, Hyunwoo Seo, told TechCrunch that “profitability” is the key right now, and is as important as growth, especially in this extremely tough market environment. (Profitability is also important to the company’s success, which is considering a potential initial public offering in the near future.)
To that end, Toss will invest the proceeds of its latest funding round into products such as digital lending and online payment services for individuals and local merchants.
New capital will also help Toss accelerate Challenger Bank’s growth Tosbank— Launched by Viva Republica last year — Retail investment apps like Robinhood, toss securitiesBoth are aiming to be profitable next year, according to Seo.
According to the company, Toss Securities started turning around in the third quarter of 2022. Additionally, Toss Bank’s registered users have increased fivefold from 1.1 million to 5 million since its launch in December 2021.
When asked about its listing plans, Seo declined to comment on an exact IPO schedule, but previous media reports said Viva Republica could go public within the next four years after increasing earnings by 2025. We aim to
Founded by dentist-turned-entrepreneur Seung-gun Lee (CEO of Viva Republica), the company started in 2015 as money transfer app Toss. Toss joined the Unicorn Club by raising $80 million in 2018 at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
Later, it became a financial super app by adding features such as banking, P2P lending, and mobile base. stock trading and investment, insurance, credit scoring services and more. Most recently, Toss launched his Pay Now (BNPL) service in March, surpassing his one million registered users. His BNLP Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in South Korea is About $36.6 billion by 2028up from $5.6 billion in 2021 as fintech and e-commerce companies use BNPL as one of their marketing tools.
In fact, Viva Republica has the largest market share of fintech super apps in the country by monthly active users (MAU), with Toss having 24 million registered users and 14 MAU as of August this year. claims to be
Viva Republica continues to make acquisitions.startup launched toss paymentenabled local merchants to accept digital payments by acquiring the payment gateway business from LG U+, the mobile network company of LG, two years ago. (Toss Payments’ monthly transaction volume surpassed $2.7 billion in November.) Toss also acquired mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Merchant Korea in July of this year, and plans to expand to 2023. We plan to provide wireless communication services to consumers. It is making its foray into the mobility market, about eight months after acquiring his 60% stake in VCNC, the operator of South Korean ride-hailing platform Tada, which is wholly owned by car-sharing platform SoCar, in October 2021. I’m here.
Regarding its international growth strategy, Viva Republica may make equity investments in global companies, including those in Southeast Asia, after entering Vietnam in 2019.
Viva Republica, which includes Toss Securities, Toss Payments and Toss Insurance, is expected to generate approximately 1 trillion won ($767 million) in revenue next year.
