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Jaclyn Tiu · · 1 min readIn brief: With new $80m round, Toss becomes Korea’s first fintech unicorn
It’s taken a while, but South Korea now has a fintech unicorn.
Viva Republica, the parent of the financial services platform Toss, announced on Monday that it has closed an US$80 million funding round that values the firm at US$1.2 billion.
Source: Quartz
Seung-gun Lee runs Viva Republica, the startup behind money transfer app Toss. / Photo credit: Viva Republica
The round was led by US firms Kleiner Perkins and Ribbit Capital. It marks their first investments in Korea.
Toss founder Seung-gun Lee created the money transfer app in 2015. It now offers over 25 services, including credit score management and insurance plans.
Prior to this round, Toss raised US$40 million in June from investors led by Sequoia China and GIC.
The two significant cash injections will fuel Toss’ continued expansion in Korea and Southeast Asia.
Editing by Judith Balea, Eileen C. Ang, and Charmaine de Lazo
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