Viva Wallet
| Private | |
| Industry | Banking |
| Founded | 2000 (As Realize SA) |
| Founder | Haris Karonis |
| Headquarters | Athens , |
Area served |
|
Key people |
|
| Website | www |
Viva Wallet is a European Neobank entirely based in Microsoft Azure with presence in 23 European countries.[1][2] Viva Wallet Holdings owns a Banking License (VIVABANK SA).[3] On January 2022, international media reported that Viva Wallet was the first Greek ''Unicorn (finance) Startup company[4] after an Agreement with JP Morgan Chase was announced.[5] Viva Wallet is part of the Viva Wallet Group, consisting of the subsidiaries Viva Services SA, Viva Payment Services and Vivabank.
History
In 2000, Haris Karonis founded Realize SA in Athens, Greece, which initially operated as a software house. In 2006, Viva Services (Viva.gr) was founded and entered the Voice over VOIP 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. [6]
Three years later, in 2014, the company obtained an Electronic Money Association License[7] and announced the completion of its Series A round funding round, led by the Latsis family Office.[8]
In 2020, Viva Wallet expanded its services to 23 European countries.[9] On August 3rd of the same year, the company announced the acquisition of the banking license of Praxia Bank[10].
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[11]. During 2021 the company launched the Viva Wallet POS app, which allows any Near-field communication, Android (operating system), Android 8.1 and above mobile device or tablet to accept contactless card payments.[12] In Q4, Viva Wallet acquired 33.5% of the Polish N7 Mobile, a niche software development company.[13]
Investment from JP Morgan
On 25 January 2022, JPMorgan Chase announced that it was to buy a 48.5% stake in Viva Wallet Holdings Software Development S.A.[5] Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. After the agreement with JP Morgan, international media reported that Viva Wallet was the first Greek ''Unicorn (finance) startup. [4]
Founders
Haris Karonis was born in 1974 in Athens, Greece. He is currently the CEO and Co-founder of Viva Wallet.[14]
Makis Antypas was born in Athens, Greece, in 1976. He’s the Co-founder and CIO of Viva Wallet and is currently serving as the CEO of Vivabank.[15]
References
- ↑ Georgiopoulos, George (2022-01-25). "JPMorgan agrees to acquire 49% stake in Greek fintech Viva Wallet". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ "JPMorgan sees Viva Wallet investment as building block in Europe". American Banker. 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ "UPDATE 1-Greek fintech Viva Wallet gears up for 500 mln euro fundraising -sources". Reuters. 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tagaris, Karolina; Maltezou, Renee (2022-02-09). "Greece's fledgling tech scene starts to take off". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "J.P. Morgan to acquire a stake in Viva Wallet". www.jpmorgan.com. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ "Viva Wallet: The history of the Greek Neobank and its path to the top of fintech". emeastartups. 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- ↑ "Our Members-Electronic Money Association".
- ↑ "JP Morgan Viva Wallet Deal Creates Greece's First FinTech Unicorn". GreekReporter.com. 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ Nikas, Foerster, Davis, Sotiris, Jan Henrik, Ruth (November 25, 2021). "JPMorgan Is Said to Weigh Deal With Greek Fintech Viva Wallet". bloomberg.com.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ January 2020, 28th (2020-01-28). "Viva Wallet buys Greece's first digital challenger Praxia Bank". FinTech Futures. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ "Greece's Viva Wallet raises $80M for its neobank targeting small business merchants". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- ↑ "Viva Wallet launches Tap on Phone feature for Android POS app". Finextra Research. 2021-05-28. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ "Viva Wallet acquires 33.5% stake in 'N7 mobile' software development company". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ↑ "Greece Rising | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- ↑ "Makis Antypas". Fintech Finance. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
External links
This article "Viva Wallet" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.