GIC-backed South Korean finance app Toss plans 2026 US listing with over US$10 billion valuation: sources
Assuming market conditions are favourable, the valuation could exceed US$15 billion, said one of the people, adding that the offering might raise US$2 billion to US$3 billion.
If it does raise that much, it would be the biggest US IPO by a South Korean company since e-commerce firm Coupang raised US$4.6 billion in 2021.
Toss, operated and owned by startup Viva Republica, had more than 24 million monthly active users as of December, just under half of South Korea's population. It also had more than 100,000 business customers.
In addition to banking, Toss also offers payments, insurance, stock trading and tax reporting services.
According to one source, it plans to use the IPO proceeds to expand globally.
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At the moment, its services are predominantly used by South Koreans but Toss said in March that it wants to become a global service and have international users account for half of its total users within the next five years.
Toss asked investment banks to submit their proposals to work on the IPO late last year and plans to issue mandates in the coming weeks, said two separate sources with knowledge of the matter.
All sources declined to be identified as the information was confidential. Toss declined to comment.
US listings for South Korean companies are relatively rare with only a handful in the last five years. Toss is keen on a US listing because of access to a much larger investor base familiar with tech companies, said one of the sources.
All of South Korea's IPOs this year have been domestic, with a combined US$2.2 billion raised, an increase of 4 per cent over the same period last year, Dealogic data showed.
Toss reported annual revenue of 1.96 trillion won (S$1.9 billion) last year and operating profit of 90.7 billion won – its first-ever operating profit.
As of last year, Toss raised more than 1.6 trillion won in funding from domestic and global investors. They include Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Singapore's sovereign investor GIC, the state-run Korea Development Bank and Chinese venture firm HSG, formerly Sequoia Capital China. REUTERS
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