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Viva Wallet Group

Viva Wallet is a group of companies owning Viva.com [Vivabank], which is a Tech Bank for businesses with presence in 24 European countries.[3] In January 2022, international media reported that Viva Wallet was the first Greek unicorn startup[4] company after an agreement with JP Morgan Chase was announced.[5]

History

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.[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 3 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]

In February 2025, Viva.com merged Viva Payments into VivaBank.[12]

Investment

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] After the agreement with JP Morgan, international media reported that Viva Wallet was the first Greek '' unicorn startup."[4]

Founders

Haris Karonis was born in 1974 in Athens, Greece. He is the CEO and co-founder of Viva Wallet.[13]

Makis Antypas was born in Athens, Greece, in 1976. He is the co-founder and CIO of Viva Wallet and the CEO of Vivabank.[14]

Subsidiaries

Vivabank

On August 3, 2020, Viva Wallet announced the acquisition of the banking license of Praxia Bank, opening the way for the creation of Vivabank.[10] Vivabank is a credit institution licensed and supervised by the Bank of Greece.[15]

See also

External links

References

  1. Viva Wallet Stock Price, Funding, Valuation, Revenue & Financial Statements^
  2. Viva Wallet announces closing of J.P. Morgan deal retrieved 2023-12-24^
  3. http://Viva.com%20integrates%20Viva%20Payments%20into%20Viva%20Bank.Viva.com^
  4. Karolina Tagaris, Renee Maltezou. Greece's fledgling tech scene starts to take off Reuters, 2022-02-09, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  5. J.P. Morgan to acquire a stake in Viva Wallet JP Morgan, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  6. Viva Wallet: The history of the Greek Neobank and its path to the top of fintech emeastartups, 2022-02-03, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  7. Our members retrieved 2022-10-07^
  8. Philip Chrysopoulos. JP Morgan Viva Wallet Deal Creates Greece's First FinTech Unicorn GreekReporter.com, 2022-02-01, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  9. JPMorgan Is Said to Weigh Deal With Greek Fintech Viva Wallet Bloomberg, November 25, 2021, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  10. Viva Wallet buys Greece's first digital challenger Praxia Bank FinTech Futures, 2020-01-28, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  11. Ingrid Lunden. Greece's Viva Wallet raises $80M for its neobank targeting small business merchants TechCrunch, 2021-04-28, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  12. https://thepaypers.com/fintech/news/vivacom-integrates-viva-payments-into-viva-bank^
  13. Greece Rising sifted.eu, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  14. Makis Antypas - Fintech Finance ffnews.com, retrieved 2022-10-07^
  15. Supervised-institutions Bank of Greece, retrieved 2022-10-07^