Viva Republica, a payments and transfer Fintech that operates under the Toss brand, has raised $64 million in funding at a $2.2 billion valuation. The funding was led by Hong Kong-based Aspex Management. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, GIC, Sequoia Capital China, and Bessemer Venture Partners – all participated in the round. Viva Republica has raised $250 million in total so far, according to a note from the firm.
This is the first investment in a private company by Aspex Management, an Asian equity investment firm founded in 2018 investing across the public and private equity markets.
Since its launch in 2015, Toss has evolved into a stealth bank platform providing a full suite of financial services all in a single app. These services include a money transfer service and a dashboard allowing users to view bank and credit/debit card transactions, manage their credit score, loan and insurance plans, and various investment services, touching on every facet of users’ financial lives.
Toss has reportedly been downloaded over 30 million times and has over 13 million registered users, which represents more than a fifth of the South Korean population. Toss has now processed more than $42+ billion of transactions.
SG Lee, CEO of Viva Republica, said they were pleased with the company’s momentum. Lee said their mission is to provide the best possible financial service experience to users:
“…we will continue to do our best for Toss to become the only service needed for users’ safe and easy day-to-day financial lives.”
Hermes Li, founder and CIO of Aspex Management, explained that they like the large addressable market and unique leading position Toss has established:
“We are confident that the exceptional Toss team will solidify the company into a fully integrated consumer financial services platform.”
