J.P. Morgan targets omnichannel merchants with Viva Wallet investment

J.P. Morgan says the strategic investment in Viva Wallet is a “natural fit” for its own payments business

J.P. Morgan is acquiring a stake in European cloud-based payments fintech Viva Wallet.

The global financial services organisation will take a 49% stake in Viva Wallet, subject to regulatory approval and for an undisclosed sum.

Viva Wallet, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Athens, Greece, focuses on serving small- and medium-sized businesses in 23 countries.

Its proprietary, cloud-based payments platform offers a broad array of value-added services to merchants, including tap-to-device technology, merchant cash advance, bill pay, expense management, virtual debit card issuance, cash disbursement, gift cards and loyalty.

J.P. Morgan says the strategic investment in Viva Wallet is a “natural fit” for its own payments business as it turns its focus to growing its omnichannel merchant acquiring capabilities offered to European small- and medium-sized businesses. 

The financial services organisation’s payments business recently unveiled its brand for small- and medium-sized businesses payments, Chase Payment Solutions, in the US and the strategic investment in Viva Wallet sets the stage to develop future international products and services in Europe for this client segment.

Max Neukirchen, global head of payments and commerce solutions at J.P. Morgan, says the strategic investment in Viva Wallet “signifies our confidence in their technology and team”.

Takis Georgakopoulos, global head of J.P. Morgan Payments, adds: “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 is a big focus area for added growth for J.P. Morgan Payments in the future.”

Haris Karonis, chief executive officer and co-founder of Viva Wallet, comments: “This strategic investment from J.P. Morgan’s Payments business will enable us to complete the build out of our vision to deliver fully localised payments and transactions services to SMBs across Europe.”

Image: Shutterstock

Mark Dugdale