Financier of the year
Viva Republica
Viva Republica, operator of the all-in-one finance platform Toss, has emerged as one of South Korea’s most influential fintech players, redefining consumer expectations through a user-first model and an expanding ecosystem of bundled services.
Since launching in 2015 as a simple money transfer app, Toss has grown into a comprehensive financial platform used by tens of millions. It introduced conveniences that quickly set new industry standards, including one-touch banking transactions, simplified identity verification and free credit score checks, and has continued adding services focused on eliminating friction from daily finance.
To evolve beyond a single-service app, Viva Republica has steadily built a multi-layered financial empire. It established insurance arm Toss Insurance in 2018, then launched payment processor Toss Payments in 2020 and its brokerage subsidiary Toss Securities in 2021. Its internet-only lender Toss Bank soon followed.
Outside finance, the company has moved aggressively to diversify. It acquired a stake in VCNC, operator of the mobility platform Tada, before taking full ownership in 2025. It also launched tax service subsidiary Toss Income and research institute Toss Insight in 2024.
As a result, Toss now offers more than 100 services — from payments, savings and investments to credit card comparisons and loan brokerage — all integrated into one mobile app.
Toss’s next chapter is to move “beyond finance” and become a platform embedded in everyday routines. Central to this strategy is its open-platform approach, which invites partner companies and startups to plug their services directly into the Toss app.
In June, the company launched Apps in Toss, an app-in-app ecosystem that lets users access external services without leaving the Toss interface. The platform has generated strong early momentum, attracting 2.6 million users and 15 million page views, with an average session lasting nearly seven minutes — a high engagement figure by finance app standards.
Most recently, Toss expanded into offline payments with Facepay, launched nationwide in September after a successful pilot. Users register their face and preferred payment method once, then simply look at a terminal to complete transactions — no phone or card required.
Adoption has been swift. Facepay has already garnered 1 million users, and nearly half of all participating stores nationwide have recorded at least one Facepay transaction. In Seoul, usage penetration reaches nearly 80 percent, with cafes recording uptake of around 95 percent.
Toss says security was prioritized from the start: Facial data is encrypted and stored on a separate server, liveness-detection filters block spoofed images and videos, and the company’s Fraud Detection System flags abnormal behavior in real time.
At a press conference in February marking Toss’s 10th anniversary, founder and CEO Lee Seung-gun unveiled the company’s next-phase vision built around three pillars: beyond finance into everyday life, beyond online into offline, and beyond Korea to the global stage.
Critically, Lee set an ambitious target: By 2030, Toss wants half of its total user base to be foreign nationals. The company plans to leverage its accumulated expertise in simplifying finance to become a global consumer platform.
“Toss’ past 10 years have been a journey of inventing and spreading innovation,” Lee said. “We will continue to transcend the boundaries of finance based on innovation and trust, creating a world where all users can enjoy a more personalized financial experience.”
silverstar@heraldcorp.com