Viva Republica, one of South Korea’s most valuable fintech start-ups, is planning to raise up to $1bn from international investors in the second quarter to fund the expansion of its super app Toss and take on SoftBank-backed competitors Grab and GoTo in south-east Asia.
The start-up, backed by Singapore’s GIC, PayPal and Sequoia Capital China, raised $410mn in June at a valuation of $7.4bn and is seeking another round of funding before launching an initial public offering. The company has raised more than $940mn in equity funding to date.
After venturing into Vietnam in 2019, where it has attracted 3mn active users with money transfer and debit card services, the company is now pushing into five other countries — Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and India — where it will go head to head with Singapore’s Grab and Indonesia’s GoTo, two of the biggest technology companies in the region.