Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Toss aims to exceed W1 tril. in total sales by end of 2021
Lee Seung-gun, CEO of Viva Republica, the parent company of the popular peer-to-peer money transfer application Toss. Yonhap
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Toss, which provides mobile financial services, was successful last year in recording close to 400 billion won in sales and enhancing its profitability margin. However, the company is aiming higher for this year with the goal of exceeding 1 trillion won in total sales.
Viva Republica is the parent company of the popular peer-to-peer money transfer application Toss.
Last week, Toss released last year's earnings which showed a 230 percent increase in sales compared to the previous year's 389.8 billion won.
Toss has been drastically cutting its operating losses from 115.4 billion won last year to 22.4 billion won, an enhancement of 80 percent. Half of it was due to a reduction in marketing expenses, which shows the platform's stability and substantial room for future growth. This marks the first time since the service was launched in 2015 that it had simultaneous growth in sales while drastically cutting operating losses.
In the past five years, Toss has doubled its total sales each year. Just in the past three years, the company's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) showed an average of 167 percent, the company said.
“Compared to our competitors we are ahead in sales and differentiated from the quality standpoint, which led to growth in all areas of the financial arena instead of a specific financial sector,” Viva Republica CEO Lee Seung-gun said. “This year with the growth of our affiliate's performance we expect to exceed 1 trillion won in total sales.”
Last year Toss acquired the transaction business from LG Uplus and established Toss Payments, thus injecting a total of 189 billion won to establish new businesses within key affiliates including Toss Securities, Toss Bank, Toss Insurance and Toss Vietnam.
The company expects rapid growth this year. In addition to the Toss financial services, the company launched Toss Securities in February and is expected to receive approval to launch Toss Bank, while aiming to enter other financial service sectors in the future.
With the help of Toss Insurance and Toss Payments among other affiliates, the company aims to achieve total annual sales of 1 trillion won this year.
Toss has been continuing to attract new customers to its platform and showed significant growth in recent years. As of late March, 19 million users have been utilizing the platform, which equates to one third of the country's population.