Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Viva Republica raises half of intended capital
Viva Republica founder and CEO Lee Seung-gun speaks to reporters during a press conference held in December 2019. Newsis
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
Viva Republica has wrapped up its Series G investment round raising a total of 530 billion won ($371 million), about half of what it had aimed to attract during the round.
According to the investment banking industry Tuesday, the comprehensive fintech company, which covers banking, brokerage and payment, completed the Series G investment round at the end of last month, with its corporate value estimated at around 9.1 trillion won.
Originally, the company aimed to attract one trillion won during the Series G round, when the firm first planned this latest investment round at the start of the year. But it had to be curtailed down to raising about half of the planned amount of capital due to drastically deteriorated external macroeconomic conditions, such as soaring interest rates.
The company plans to monitor the market for the time being, before deciding whether to attract additional capital, if necessary.
Several investors who participated in the firm's previous investment rounds joined the Series G round, such as Korea Development Bank, Altos Ventures and Daol Investment. Overseas investors, including Goodwater Capital, Greyhound Capital and Harvest Capital, also joined the round.
Tonic PE, Mirae Asset Securities and Gwangju Bank joined the investment round as new investors.
Viva Republica's corporate value was estimated at around 3.1 trillion won during its Series F investment round that took place two years ago. Despite the unfavorable market atmosphere, the company's value has consistently increased, as the fintech app's number of users and transactional amounts continued to grow during past years.
Planning to go public in 2025, the company aims to use the raised capital for business expansion in order to continue the current rate of aggressive growth. The company initially aimed to go public by 2024, yet it delayed the target year to 2025, planning to pursue a more stable long-term growth strategy.