Viva Wallet Group
 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Neobank |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founders | Haris Karonis Makis Antypas |
| Headquarters | Athens, Greece |
Key people | Haris Karonis (CEO) |
| Owner | Viva Wallet Holdings Software Development (51.5%) JPMorgan Chase (48.5%) |
Number of employees | 427 (2020) |
| Subsidiaries | Vivabank Viva Services Viva Payment Services |
| Website | viva |
Viva Wallet is a Greek tech bank for businesses with presence in 24 European countries. In January 2022, Viva Wallet became the first Greek unicorn startup[1] company after an agreement with JP Morgan Chase was announced.
History
[edit]In 2000, Haris Karonis founded Realize SA in Athens, Greece, which initially operated as a software house. In 2006, Viva Services was founded and entered the voice over IP business and later travel services, followed in 2010 by an expansion to the e-ticketing market. In 2011, Haris Karonis and Makis Antypas founded Viva Payments, which is licensed as a payment institution for the European Economic Area, following the transposition of the PSD2 in the Greek institutional framework.[2][3]
Three years later, in 2014, the company obtained an Electronic Money Association License[4] and announced the completion of its Series A round funding round, led by the Latsis family office.[5]
In 2020, Viva Wallet expanded its services to 23 European countries.[6] On August 3 of the same year, the company announced the acquisition of the banking license of Praxia Bank.[7][7] Vivabank is a credit institution licensed and supervised by the Bank of Greece.[8]
In 2021, Viva Wallet announced the completion of its Series D funding round, led by Tencent, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as well as Jim Breyer’s Breyer Capital.[9]
In January 2022, JPMorgan Chase announced that it was to buy a 48.5% stake in Viva Wallet Holdings Software Development S.A.[10]
In February 2025, Viva.com merged Viva Payments into VivaBank.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Tagaris, Karolina; Maltezou, Renee (2022-02-09). "Greece's fledgling tech scene starts to take off". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ "Greece Rising | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ "Viva Wallet: The history of the Greek Neobank and its path to the top of fintech". emeastartups. 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ "Our members | Electronic Money Association". Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ Chrysopoulos, Philip (2022-02-01). "JP Morgan Viva Wallet Deal Creates Greece's First FinTech Unicorn". GreekReporter.com. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ Sotiris Nikas; Jan-Henrik Foerster; Ruth David (November 25, 2021). "JPMorgan Is Said to Weigh Deal With Greek Fintech Viva Wallet". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ a b "Viva Wallet buys Greece's first digital challenger Praxia Bank". FinTech Futures. 2020-01-28. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ "Supervised-institutions". Bank of Greece. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2021-04-28). "Greece's Viva Wallet raises $80M for its neobank targeting small business merchants". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ "J.P. Morgan to acquire a stake in Viva Wallet". JP Morgan. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
- ^ https://thepaypers.com/fintech/news/vivacom-integrates-viva-payments-into-viva-bank