Toss (Viva Republica), which aims to go public in the second half of this year at the earliest, has recently taken direct steps for the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, led by CEO Lee Seung-gun. As a company that has grown based on innovative user experiences and technological capabilities, it seems to be enhancing these advantages to reinforce its fintech identity and support its global expansion.
According to the financial industry on the 9th, CEO Lee recently explained the recruitment of machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI) directly through an internal notice and encouraged recommendations. In the notice, CEO Lee said, "Toss has been known to many as a company that makes great products very well," and added that "Toss will evolve into a company recognized for ML/AI as well," outlining the future direction of the business.
CEO Lee added that he would create innovations that would surprise the market once again by adding world-class AI capabilities that can lead the industry. He emphasized that he is personally taking care of this recruitment. CEO Lee highlighted the excellent capabilities and vision of the Toss ML team, encouraging the entire organization to actively recommend resources and assist in the recruitment.
Prior to the announcement, Toss posted a large-scale recruitment notice for the ML/AI fields. Both Toss and Toss Bank, as well as Toss Securities, require ML engineers, and they are also separately hiring for the role of ML manager to assist them. Although the recruitment scale and period were not specified in the notice, Toss internally targets to hire about 100 people. Additionally, development positions through military service exemptions, which had not been recruited for a while, have reopened, and ML engineers who design models are included in this field.
Toss has rapidly grown based on a simple user interface (UI), user experience (UX), and intuitive financial products. In particular, due to its recent advancement in commerce, including shopping, it achieved its highest revenue of 1.9556 trillion won within its 10 years of establishment last year, successfully turning a profit for the first time.
CEO Lee seems to be looking to elevate Toss to a fully AI corporation. For several years, Toss has accumulated non-financial data to leverage AI through various user activities like 'previous life profiles' and 'topping the charts'. This led to the introduction of a new facial recognition payment service called 'FacePay' and the provision of alternative credit evaluation solutions. In January, Toss began providing alternative credit evaluation models to Kyongnam Bank, and last week it started doing so with fintech company PFCT for savings banks.
The expansion of AI capabilities is closely related to the listing on the U.S. Nasdaq. As AI technology has established itself as a global trend, the enhancement of Toss's AI capabilities is effective in attracting investor interest along with an increase in corporate value. Additionally, aspects such as cost reduction, revenue improvement, and service innovation using AI may enable a listed corporation to be recognized for its high growth potential, even if its performance falls short at the time of listing, according to industry analysis.
Toss plans to focus all its efforts this year on securing talent to enhance its capabilities. In March, CEO Lee also posted a recruitment message on his social media (SNS), stating that "Toss will conduct recruitment of over 1,000 people this year (2025)," and emphasized that "this large-scale expansion by Toss may be the last, and it is virtually the last chance to board the Toss ship, which still has tenfold growth remaining."