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.
Toss founder advises startups to 'think big' from public interest perspective
Lee Seung-gun, founder and CEO of Viva Republica, which operates the Korean finance app Toss, delivers his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Seoul Fintech Week 2023 at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
Former dentist-turned-fintech CEO emphasizes solving problems for public benefit
Lee Seung-gun, founder and CEO of Viva Republica, has advised fintech entrepreneurs to consider deeply how to provide benefits for the greater public, as innovation often comes from solving social problems.
Founded by Lee in 2013, Viva Republica is the country's first financial startup that achieved unicorn status with an over $1 billion corporate valuation. It operates the Korean financial super app Toss, which offers various financial services ranging from banking and securities to payments.
"I believe entrepreneurship comes from a desire to provide a social contribution, beyond simply making money," Toss founder Lee said during a keynote speech during the opening ceremony of Seoul Fintech Week 2023 at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, Wednesday.
"I hope entrepreneurs think big to create benefits for the society as problem solvers. Please think deeply from a public interest perspective on how to provide greater utility. Such considerations often lead to a company with greater innovation," Lee said.
"It is necessary to think big and take on the challenge of innovation on a large scale," he highlighted, adding that he thinks there's a lack of innovation in Korea given its market size. Lee said Korea's financial market is pretty sizable, taking a single-digit ranking in the world.
Problem-solving in the social context is what led the former dentist Lee to change his career path towards entrepreneurship a decade ago. He believed making financial transactions more convenient would be a meaningful and beneficial business model. Lee said his firm was the first in Korea to spearhead a innovative mobile payment business in the country.
Now Toss, which has grown to include banking, investment and much more, boasts 15 million monthly active users. Over 90 percent of those in their 20s use the app, while 79 percent of those in their thirties and 67 percent of those in their forties utilize the financial app. The corporate valuation of the company has risen to over 9.1 trillion won ($6.6 million) with an accumulated investment of over 1.6 trillion won so far.
The Toss CEO said that the digitalization of finance means improved accessibility to financial services. The founder said his company has expanded the boundaries of available financial services for minors, the visually-impaired and those with middle and lower credit status.
"Toss provides loans to mid- and low-credit holders three times more than traditional banks and 1.7 times more than its internet-only peers. But it doesn't mean that we do it at a loss. By utilizing additional new data based on AI deep learning, Toss has succeeded in embracing previously marginalized financial consumers," Lee said.
Lee also shared his insight that he thinks the so-called "big blur," referring to the blurring boundaries between financial and non-financial sectors, suggests an ultimate industrial reorganization to better serve the consumer perspective.
"Thus, the big-blur phenomenon means delivering a cheaper, better quality value for consumers. In other words, in places where the technology ecosystem perspective is lacking, it is being reorganized from the consumer perspective. Therefore, an innovation merging finance and IT increases social utility," Lee explained.