Toss launches procedures for IPO

Viva Republica (Toss operator) founder and CEO Lee Seung-gun / Courtesy of Viva Republica

Viva Republica, the operator of financial super app Toss, has kicked off procedures for its initial public offering (IPO), as the firm aims to select lead underwriters for the listing process.

Toss told The Korea Times on Wednesday that it sent a request for proposal (RFP) to major securities companies, including Korea Investment, NH Investment, Mirae Asset Securities, KB Securities and Samsung Securities, earlier this week.

"It's true that Toss recently sent RFP to major securities firms to select lead underwriters for the IPO," an official said. "However, the timing of the IPO has not been determined, and we plan to pursue it, considering the optimal timing for the IPO based on market conditions," he added.

Given that the company's pre-IPO placements in early last year were led by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, global investment banks are also expected to join the team of lead or joint underwriters.

As it typically takes about a month from the RFP distribution to the selection of lead underwriters, it is expected that the formation of the team of underwriters for the IPO will be completed by mid-January.

Toss logo

Since founded in 2013 by former dentist Lee Seung-gun, Viva Republica has aggressively expanded its financial business through the Toss app, covering banking, insurance, securities, payments and more. Viva Republica now has a total of 17 affiliates.

The company is Korea's first financial startup to achieve unicorn status — a venture company with an over $1 billion corporate valuation. Evaluated at around 9 trillion won ($6.9 billion) during the last pre-IPO investment round in 2022, Toss now aims to further grow to become a decacorn company with a corporate valuation of over $10 billion.

Founder Lee is the firm's largest shareholder, holding a 15.57 percent stake, or about 27.4 million shares. The combined stake held by Lee and his close families and registered executives is 17.1 percent. Other major shareholders of Toss include Goodwater Capital, which owns an 11.58 percent stake, and Altos Ventures at 8.62 percent.

As of the end of the third quarter, Viva Republica's assets have increased to 3.38 trillion won from 2.7 trillion won at the end of last year.

Based on Toss' massive monthly active users, of approximately 15.3 million, the mobile financial super app announced Wednesday that it garnered a monthly advertising revenue of 12.3 billion won in November, which is more than a 200 percent increase year-on-year. The firm began its advertising business in September last year.