Viva Republica raised $410 million in pre-Series G funding and says it is now valued at 9.1 trillion won, up from 8 trillion won in June. The South Korean currency has lost value against the dollar.
The recent funding of the company shows that it is doing well despite a gloomy macroeconomic outlook. Viva Republica boosted its valuation again, unlike global fintech companies, which saw their valuations cut fairly dramatically.
Many global tech companies have been conducting major layoffs this year, but Viva Republica was on a hiring spree in October. As of August, the company had over 2000 employees.
The Series G round was led by Tonic Private Equity with returning backers including Korea Development Bank. Korea Investment & Securities took part in the funding. In the third quarter of 2022, and the third close of the new funding in November, the company said it had completed its first and second close.
Viva Republica's COO saidprofitability is key now and is as significant as growth. It would take a long time for the company to be profitable in order for it to be successful.
The proceeds of its newest fundraise will be used to invest in its products, including digital lending and online payment service for individuals and local merchants.
The new capital will help the challenger bank toss Bank and the retail investment app toss Securities turn a profit.
The company says that Toss Securities started to turn around in the third quarter. The number of registered users of Toss Bank has tripled since it was launched.
Viva Republica wants to go public in the next four years after increasing its revenue by 25 years, according to previous media outlets.
The company started as a money transfer app in 2015. The company had a valuation of over one billion dollars in the year.
Banking, P2P lending, mobile-based stock trading and investing, insurance, credit scoring service, and more have been added to the finance super app. In March, Toss launched a buy now pay later service, which it says has amassed more than 1 million users. The GMV in South Korea is projected to grow from $5.6 billion in 2016 to $36.6 billion by the year 2028.
Viva Republica claims to have the largest market share with its super app in the country, with 24 million registered users and 14 million monthly active users.
Viva Republica is continuing to make acquisitions. Two years ago, the startup acquired a payment gateway business from a mobile network company. The monthly trading volume ofToss Payments was more than three billion dollars. Merchant Korea, a mobile virtual network operator, was taken over by toss in July this year. The latest acquisition is roughly eight months after it acquired a majority stake in VCNC, an operator of the Korean ride-sharing platform.
Viva Republica could make equity investments in global companies once it enters Vietnam in 2019. It is more likely to focus on domestic business at the moment.
Viva Republica with toss securities, toss payments and toss insurance is expected to make 1 trillion won in revenue this year
Viva Republica is expected to post $767 million in sales this year, and we have changed the story to reflect that.
Fintech giants face uphill battle
Viva Republica, developer of Korean financial super app Toss, raises $410M at a $7.4B valuation
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