Viva Republica poised to become Korea’s fourth decacorn

Viva Republica Inc., the operator of fintech platform Toss, is revving up for a pre-IPO. When finalized, the company will become South Korea’s fourth decacorn – a private, venture-backed company with a valuation of at least $10 billion.

Founded in 2011, Viva Republica consists of several companies including Toss Payments and Toss Insurance. 

A person familiar with the plan told The Korea Economic Daily that the fintech company distributed requests for proposal (RFPs) to potential candidates on Wednesday, the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The funding size is estimated to be around 1 trillion won ($831 million.) To manage the pre-IPO process, Viva Republica recently hired Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.
 
The latest plan is the company’s first such move in about seven months. In June 2021, Viva Republica raised approximately 460 billion won in a Series G funding round at a valuation of 8.2 trillion won, in which Korea Development Bank, Alkeon Capital Management, Altos Ventures, and Greyhound Capital participated.

Viva Republica’s accumulated funding size amounts to 1 trillion won. If and when the next round wraps up as expected, the accumulated total will reach 2 trillion won.

The financial firm’s corporate value is widely expected to range between 10 trillion won and 15 trillion won. The figure is a 1.5-fold jump from the 8 trillion won estimate during the Series G funding round in June. 

Industry insiders say Viva Republica has proven itself to adequately handle securities and banking functions, expanding beyond its initial peer-to-peer payment services.

Big data platform IGAWorks recently released a report in which Toss ranks as the first of South Korean mobile banking apps by number of monthly active users. The company’s user base exceeds that of Kakao Corp.'s counterpart Kakao Bank thanks to functions that cater to users in their 30s and younger. 

Viva Republica plans to use the fresh injection of funds to advance its services and plans for M&As in the future. 

Viva Republica launched its financial app Toss in 2015. In October 2021, the firm launched Toss Securities after launching Toss Bank in February.

It has also acquired a stake in ride-sharing service Tada operator VCNC in a bid to enter the mobility business.

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim at why29@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.