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| Viva Republica founder and CEO Lee Seung-gun, left, poses with PayPal CEO Dan Schulman at the latter's headquarters in San Jose, California, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of Viva Republica |
By Lee Min-hyung
Lee Seung-gun, founder and CEO of Viva Republica, met with PayPal CEO Dan Schulman on Tuesday while accompanying President Yoon Suk Yeol on his state visit to the United States.
Viva Republica is one of Korea's fastest-growing fintech startups, operating money transfer app Toss. In 2017, a consortium of investors, including PayPal Ventures, invested $48 million (64.3 billion won) in Toss. This was the first time for the U.S. online payment system operator to invest in a Korean company.
Both sides discussed up-to-date trends in the global fintech industry and shared insights on the future of the financial industry. This also marked the first time that Lee met with the PayPal chief. Lee visited PayPal headquarters in San Jose for the meeting.
"We have been able to reconfirm the unwavering trust between both sides through the latest meeting," Lee said. "Dan Schulman has driven PayPal's major leap forward. It was a valuable moment for me to learn lessons from a leader from one of the world's largest online payment operators."
The meeting was arranged on the sidelines of President Yoon's five-day trip to the world's largest economy. A delegation of 122 business leaders including Lee are accompanying Yoon to seek out more economic partnerships with the U.S. Lee is the only figure included in the delegation from Korea's financial industry.
Toss started its money transfer business in 2015 and has since launched various financial services, such as mobile banking and stock trading. The number of Toss subscribers tops 20 million.
Toss Bank, the nation's third-ever mobile bank, has also been growing rapidly. The lender started its business in October 2021 and has so far attracted more than 6 million subscribers in less than two years. Toss Bank is forecast to achieve a turnaround in the latter half of this year.
Dan Schulman is an American business executive, formerly serving as a group president of enterprise growth at American Express for more than four years since 2010 before joining PayPal. He is also a member of Verizon's board of directors. He is recognized for driving PayPal's sustainable growth over the past decade.
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