JPMorgan Picks Up Major Stake In Athens-Based Fintech Viva Wallet

Cloud-based payments fintech firm Viva Wallet has built an extensive network across Europe, delivering card processing services and a proprietary payments platform used in 23 countries. As of January 25th, the company has another major stakeholder joining its founding leaders: JPMorgan.

Although specifics about the deal are still pending regulatory approval, sources describe the acquisition as totaling more than $1.15 billion. JPMorgan’s stake in the company, picked up from minority shareholders, adds up to approximately 49% of the company, indicating the founders will maintain their majority stake.

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One arm of massive online service provider Viva Services, over the last few years Viva Wallet has snapped up competitors and built a thriving presence across the continent, all largely integrated with Google and Apple Pay. Besides its online store support and brick-and-mortar payment processing capabilities, Viva Wallet has made a name for itself with its digital business debit card offerings.

Takis Georgakopoulos, JPMorgan Head of Global Payments, pointed to the 17 million merchants across the European payments sector as a source of considerable opportunity for the global finance giant. “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 small and midsize businesses,” Georgakopoulos said in a statement by JPMorgan.