Toss expands financial services through super app strategy

Viva Republica, the operator of the mobile platform Toss, is expanding its financial services through a strategic partnership with Woori Financial Savings Bank. The collaboration includes the launch of ‘VitaWON BIZ’, a non-face-to-face credit loan product for individual business owners available exclusively on the Toss app. The product utilizes the ‘Toss SOHO Score’, an alternative credit evaluation model co-developed with Korea Evaluation Data (KoDATA), to more accurately assess the repayment capabilities of small business owners by integrating diverse financial data such as actual sales and cash flow.

This move aligns with Toss’s broader ‘super app’ strategy, which aims to integrate various financial services—including remittances, payments, banking, insurance, and investments—into a single application. Toss has recently been designated as a financial complex enterprise group, a status that requires enhanced capital adequacy management and internal controls. This strategy contrasts with Kakao’s approach, which focuses on splitting its business into specialized entities, such as KakaoAI, to leverage artificial intelligence and maintain autonomy across its various platforms.