Viva Republica, a South Korea-based peer-to-peer payment service backed by corporates Novel Group, PayPal and Qualcomm, secured $173m in funding today at a $2.6bn valuation, Caixin Global reported.
The round was co-led by venture capital firm round Sequoia Capital China according to Caixin, and included Aspex Management, Kleiner Perkins’ Digital Growth Fund, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital and Greyhound Capital.
Founded in 2011, Viva Republica operates a mobile app called Toss that helps users manage their finances, offering tools such as a savings account, peer-to-peer transfers, digital payments, mutual funds and real estate investment and credit score management.
The funding will help the company pursue its goal of building a one-stop platform that also offers personalised recommendations for financial products. It has obtained a digital banking licence and expects to launch that service in 2021.
Viva Republica said it has now collected $530m in funding altogether. Aspex Management led a $64m round in August 2019 that valued it at $2.2bn and which included Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) and GIC.
Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, participated in an $80m round for the company in December 2018 together with telecommunications firm Novel and digital payment processor PayPal.
Kleiner Perkins predecessor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, BVP, Goodwater Capital, Altos Ventures and KTB Network also took part in the December round. GIC and Sequoia Capital China had already contributed to a $40m round six months earlier.
PayPal, BVP, Partech Ventures, Altos Ventures and Goodwater Capital joined forces in 2017 for Viva Republica’s $48m series C round, after Qualcomm Ventures, KTB, Altos and Goodwater had participated in a $23.7m series B round the previous year.
Photo courtesy of Viva Republica.
