Press Release
Strategic investment sets the stage for expanded future omnichannel merchant acquiring capabilities for European SMBs, value-added services and payments innovation
J.P. Morgan announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Viva Wallet, a leading European cloud-based payments fintech company, to invest an ownership stake of 49 percent, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We are very excited to make a strategic investment in Viva Wallet to support their vision to empower new growth and payments innovation targeted at European SMB and middle market merchant services clients,” said Takis Georgakopoulos, Global Head of J.P. Morgan Payments. “The European payments landscape is fragmented yet large in terms of opportunity, with more than 17 million merchants1 ready to implement scalable payments solutions and this will be a big focus area for J.P. Morgan Payments in the future,” Georgakopoulos added.
We are very excited to make a strategic investment in Viva Wallet to support their vision to empower new growth and payments innovation targeted at European SMB and middle market merchant services clients.
Takis Georgakopoulos
Global Head of J.P. Morgan Payments
Founded in 2000, Viva Wallet is headquartered in Athens, Greece, and focuses on serving small and medium business in 23 countries. The company built a proprietary, cloud-based payments platform that is able to offer a broad array of value-added services to attract and retain merchants including Tap to Device technology, merchant cash advance, bill pay, expense management, virtual debit card issuance, cash disbursement, gift cards and loyalty.
“We’ve admired J.P. Morgan’s Payments business as they’ve reinvented the way to think about the payments life cycle for clients of all sizes. The strategic investment from J.P. Morgan Payments will enable us to complete the build out of our regional product suite to fully serve European SMBs,” said Haris Karonis, CEO & co-founder of Viva Wallet.
J.P. Morgan’s Payments business is focused on growing its omnichannel merchant acquiring capabilities offered to European small and medium sized businesses. The strategic investment in Viva Wallet is a natural fit for J.P. Morgan’s Payments business – which combines corporate treasury services, trade finance, card and merchant services capabilities – and delivers an integrated payments experience to clients across the economy. The business recently unveiled Chase Payment Solutions in the US and the strategic investment in Viva Wallet sets the stage to develop future international products and services across European SMBs.
“J.P. Morgan’s strategic investment in Viva Wallet signifies our confidence in their technology and team who already offer a holistic omnichannel merchant acquiring capability across Europe and better serve small and medium businesses,” said Max Neukirchen, Global Head of Payments & Commerce Solutions, J.P. Morgan.
J.P. Morgan’s strategic investment in Viva Wallet signifies our confidence in their technology and team who already offer a holistic omnichannel merchant acquiring capability across Europe and better serve small and medium businesses.
Max Neukirchen
Head of Payments & Commerce Solutions, J.P. Morgan
The strategic investment in Viva Wallet is further evidence of J.P. Morgan Payments global and European ambitions and comes on the heels of the firm’s recent announcement to enter into an investment with Volkswagen Financial Services AG, with plans to acquire a controlling interest of close to 75 percent in the car manufacturer’s payments platform, subject to regulatory approvals.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to [J.P. Morgan] and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP served as legal advisor. Jefferies Group LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Viva Wallet and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP served as legal advisor.
About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States of America (“U.S.”), with operations worldwide. JPMorgan Chase had $3.7 trillion in assets and $294.1 billion in stockholders’ equity as of December 31,2021. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management. Under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands, the Firm serves millions of
customers in the U.S. and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients globally. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com
About Viva Wallet
Viva Wallet is the first European entirely cloud-based neobank with offices in 23 European Countries. Created to change the way businesses pay and get paid, Viva Wallet offers businesses of all sizes acceptance—Card Present or Card not Present—of 24 payment methods, as well as business accounts with local IBAN and debit card issuing.
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