This article appeared on Signal, a capital markets service, at 3:48 p.m. on August 25, 2026.
Viva Republica, the operator of the Toss financial app, is rapidly increasing its debt financing through corporate bonds, issuing an additional 33 billion won ($24 million) in private bonds. The move is seen as an effort to diversify funding sources that had been concentrated in bank loans, drawing on the company's own credit standing amid improving earnings.
Viva Republica issued a 33 billion won five-year private corporate bond on the 14th of this month, according to investment banking sources on the 25th. The coupon rate was set at 6.06% a year. The issuance came less than a month after the company sold 187 billion won in private bonds last month, marking a swift return to the corporate bond market. With the latest deal, Viva Republica's private bond issuance this year has risen to a total of 220 billion won.
The company first entered the private corporate bond market in December of last year, its first such move since its founding. Including the 50 billion won issued at that time, its cumulative funding through market-based debt has reached 270 billion won. In little more than eight months, the company has begun using corporate bonds as one of its main funding tools.
Notably, its recent funding has increasingly relied on its own credit standing without credit enhancement. When Viva Republica issued its first corporate bond last year, it used credit enhancement for a substantial portion of the 50 billion won, but the entire 187 billion won issued last month was raised as unsecured private bonds based on its own "A0" credit rating. The five-year maturity secured funds that can be used steadily over a relatively long period.
Market observers interpreted the moves as Viva Republica diversifying its existing borrowing structure through corporate bonds as improving earnings expand its cash-generating capacity. They see it as a strategy to build financial capacity for future business expansion by spreading out funding sources and maturities. The ongoing reorganization of affiliate businesses, including the merger of Toss Payments, is also cited as a factor increasing the need for medium- to long-term funding management.
Viva Republica says its recent series of private bond issuances is not directly tied to one-off funding needs such as a specific investment or affiliate restructuring. "Issuing private bonds is part of routine funding under an overall funding plan," a company official said. "The aim is to secure stable liquidity and enhance financial flexibility."
