'Toss' Valuation at 8.5 Trillion Won with 300 Billion Won Investment, 'Decacorn' Status Still Pending...

Altos Ventures Raises Investment from KDB Industrial Bank and Others
Secures Funding by Increasing Corporate Value Amid Global Recession

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Comprehensive financial platform Toss has been valued at 8.5 trillion KRW and secured new investments worth 300 billion KRW. This is somewhat subdued compared to the initial expectations of becoming a 'decacorn' with a valuation exceeding 10 billion USD (approximately 13 trillion KRW). Nevertheless, raising new funds amid a globally weakened investment sentiment is seen as recognition of the company's growth potential.

Toss operator Viva Republica announced on the 20th that it secured new investments worth 295.8 billion KRW. The valuation of Toss set in this investment is 8.5 trillion KRW. This is slightly higher than the 8.2 trillion KRW valuation at the last investment round in June last year but falls short of the 10 trillion KRW valuation expected since the end of last year. Toss stated, "Considering that other fintech companies worldwide are receiving investments at lowered valuations due to extremely weakened investment sentiment, this investment is very exceptional."

Altos Ventures, a venture capital (VC) firm that invested in Toss from the early stages, participated as the lead investor, contributing 100 billion KRW. Among domestic institutional investors, KDB Industrial Bank (100 billion KRW) and Gwangju Bank (20 billion KRW) also participated. Early investors of Toss, Daol Investment (formerly KTB Network) and Mirae Asset Securities, also made small-scale investments. Additionally, overseas shareholders such as Goodwater and Greyhound also invested.

The funds secured this time will be used for additional investments in the growth of key affiliates such as Toss Bank and Toss Securities, as well as for new business ventures. The investment is expected to be completed in two rounds this month and next month. A Toss representative explained, "Due to high demand from domestic and foreign institutional investors, the investment will be conducted in two rounds," adding, "Once the participation of institutions currently in investment discussions is finalized, the closing is planned for August."

Meanwhile, although Toss is expanding its scale, it still has not escaped losses. Last year, on a consolidated basis, sales reached 780.8 billion KRW, nearly doubling from the previous year’s 389.8 billion KRW. However, operating losses also increased from 107 billion KRW to 179.6 billion KRW during the same period. Specifically, Toss Securities and Toss Bank recorded operating losses of 78 billion KRW and 35.8 billion KRW, respectively.

A Toss representative said, "Last year’s gross profit margin was around 70%, which is very high compared to 40-50% of global fintech apps, and over 90% of sales come from B2B models such as brokerage, recruitment, and advertising fees received from financial companies, characterized by a solid revenue structure," adding, "Sales from payment and loan brokerage are expanding, and we expect a turnaround to profitability as early as the beginning of next year. Institutional investors highly evaluated Toss’s growth as a unique financial platform."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.