South Korea’s Viva Republica drops Korean IPO plan, seeks US debut

Viva Republica Inc., a leading South Korean fintech unicorn and operator of mobile financial super app Toss, has dropped its plan to go public in the country and is instead seeking a US market debut.

According to investment banking sources on Tuesday, Viva Republica informed its domestic IPO underwriters earlier this week that it would halt its planned domestic listing process.

In February, the fintech company named Mirae Asset Securities Co. and Korea Investment & Securities Co. as lead underwriters and Samsung Securities Co. co-underwriter for an IPO on the Korean stock market.

But the company recently dropped the plan, judging that it would not be fairly valued if it listed its shares on the Korean bourse given the lack of comparable fintech companies.

With investment sentiment toward fintech companies improving in the US, Viva Republica sees a stronger valuation opportunity overseas, people familiar with the matter said.

The company plans to choose its IPO managers by the end of this year for a debut on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the second half of next year or early 2026, sources said.

“Korean fintech companies have not demonstrated a decent growth trajectory, and skepticism about the platform business model has dampened investor sentiment,” said an industry source. “In contrast, the US market is again favoring growth potential over immediate profitability for fintech firms."

ENTERPRISE VALUE

The enterprise value of Viva Republica is estimated at between 10 trillion won and 20 trillion won ($7.2 billion-$14.4 billion).

When it sought a Korean IPO last year, the company’s value was estimated at 9.1 trillion won in a pre-IPO equity investment.

Established in 2013, Viva Republica has sprawled into internet banking, insurance, securities and online payments to become a fintech giant in Korea.

The fintech firm considers its core competitiveness its strategy of providing all financial services in a single app, or super app.

Its mobile fintech platform Toss offers a full range of financial services from Toss Securities, Toss Payments, Toss Insurance, Toss Bank and Toss CX, a financial advisory service.

In Korea, notable listed fintech firms include KakaoBank Corp. and Kakao Pay Corp., whose share prices have nosedived after their IPOs.

K Bank, the digital banking unit of Korean telecom giant KT Corp., withdrew its planned IPO in mid-October due to lackluster investor interest.

POST-US ELECTION OPPORTUNITIES

In the US, investors are actively seeking opportunities to invest in global fintech companies with growth potential.

Digital payments firm Stripe was valued at $65 billion during its pre-IPO stage, becoming the third-highest valued startup in the US after SpaceX and OpenAI. Stripe’s valuation soared to $95 billion in 2021 but dropped to $15 billion last year due to global liquidity problems, only to recently regain investor interest.

Expectations that the US IPO market will gain momentum post-presidential election, alongside improvement in investor sentiment due to lower interest rates, offer favorable conditions for Viva Republica’s US listing, sources said.

A Toss official said Viva Republica hasn’t yet decided whether to list its shares on the Nasdaq or the NYSE.

Write to Seok-Cheol Choi at dolsoi@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.