Viva Republica, a South Korea-based digital banking app developer which counts corporates Novel Group, PayPal and Qualcomm as investors, has raised $410m at $7.4bn post-money valuation, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Investment firm Alkeon Capital Management led the round, while Korea Development Bank, growth equity firm Greyhound Capital and venture capital firm Altos Ventures also took part.
Founded in 2011, Viva Republica operates a mobile-based platform called Toss which provides a range of financial services including money management tools, credit score checks and peer-to-peer payments.
The company plans to launch its own neobank in September 2021 and also intends to use the funding to support its geographic expansion. The round increased its overall funding to $940m.
Viva Republica received $173m in an August 2020 round reportedly co-led by Sequoia Capital China and undisclosed existing investors that included Aspex Management, Kleiner Perkins’ Digital Growth Fund, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital and Greyhound Capital, valuing it at $2.6bn.
Aspex Management led a $64m round for the company in August 2019 backed by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater Capital, Sequoia Capital China and Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP).
Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile semiconductor producer Qualcomm, had joined digital payment services provider PayPal and telecommunications firm Novel Group in an $80m round for Viva Republica in 2018.
The 2018 round also featured Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the predecessor of Kleiner Perkins, as well as BVP, Goodwater Capital, Altos Ventures and KTB Network. Viva Republica had received $40m from investors including GIC and Sequoia Capital China six months earlier.
The company had previously picked up $48m in a series C round in 2017 featuring PayPal, BVP, Partech Ventures, Altos Ventures and Goodwater Capital, following $23.7m in series B funding from Qualcomm Ventures, KTB, Goodwater and existing investor Altos the year before.
Photo courtesy of Viva Republica Inc.