Viva Republica
{{Short description|South Korean fintech company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Viva Republica Inc.
| native_name = 주식회사 비바리퍼블리카
| romanized_name =
| logo =
| logo_caption =
| image =
| image_size = 250px
| image_caption =
| type = Private
| industry = Fintech
| founder = Lee Seung-gun
| area_served = South Korea, Vietnam
| key_people = Lee Seung-gun
{{small|(CEO)}}
| products =
| subsid =
| founded = 2014
| hq_location =
| hq_location_city = Gangnam District, Seoul
| hq_location_country = South Korea
| website = {{URL|https://toss.im/en}}
}}
Viva Republica Inc. ({{ko-hhrm|주식회사 비바리퍼블리카}}) is a South Korean technology company active in lending, payment services, financial services and stock brokerage. It is the operator of the financial super-app Toss, which had over 20 million users in South Korea in 2021. With a valuation of $7.4 billion, it was one of the most valuable unicorns in South Korea.{{Cite web|last=Kang|first=John|title=Former Dentist Becomes A Billionaire After Funding Round Boosts His Korean Fintech Startup|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkang/2021/06/25/former-dentist-becomes-a-billionaire-after-funding-round-boosts-his-korean-fintech-startup/|access-date=3 February 2022|website=Forbes|language=en}}
History
Toss was launched in 2014 as a peer-to-peer money transfer platform by the former dentist Lee Seung-gun after eight failed ventures.{{Cite web|last=Gilchrist|first=Karen|date=2019-09-20|title=This dentist built a $2 billion Korean start-up — after 8 failed businesses along the way|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/20/toss-koreas-first-1-billion-fintech-unicorn-inspired-by-8-failures.html|access-date=3 February 2022|website=CNBC|language=en}} Over time, more and more new services were offered on the platform, including loans, credit scores and personal investing.
Altos Ventures was the first investor in 2014. Later PayPal, Sequoia China and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC also invested in the start-up.
In 2018, the company became a unicorn after raising $80 million in a funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and Ribbit Capital.{{Cite web|title=Payment service Toss becomes Korea's newest unicorn after raising $80M|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/09/toss-becomes-koreas-newest-unicorn/|access-date=3 February 2022|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}
In 2020, Toss was launched in Vietnam, its first overseas expansion.{{Cite web|title=Viva Republica, developer of Korean financial super app Toss, raises $410M at a $7.4B valuation|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/22/viva-republica-developer-of-korean-financial-super-app-toss-raises-410m-at-a-7-4b-valuation/|access-date=3 February 2022|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}
In October 2020, Toss launched Toss Bank, a neobank.{{Cite web|title=Korea's 3rd app-based bank Toss Bank kicks off amid loan bottleneck in Korea - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea|url=https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?year=2021&no=942776|access-date=3 February 2022|website=pulsenews.co.kr|language=ko}}
In June 2021, Viva Republica raised a further $410 million in a funding. Investors included Alkeon Capital and the Korea Development Bank.
In November 2021, Viva Republica announced the acquisition of a majority stake in VCNC, which operates a ride-hailing service called Tada.{{Cite web|title=South Korea-based Viva Republica/Toss eyes ride-hailing expansion|url=https://thepaypers.com/online-mobile-banking/south-korea-based-viva-republicatoss-eyes-ride-hailing-expansion--1252628|access-date=3 February 2022|website=thepaypers.com|language=en}}