JP Morgan has agreed to acquire an ownership stake of 49% in European paytech Viva Wallet.
Viva Wallet secured an $80m investment last year
The financial services multinational says the “strategic investment” supports the firm’s plan to expand its payments business targeted at European SMEs and middle market merchant services clients.
The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2000, Viva Wallet’s cloud payments platform provides services to SME merchants across 23 countries, including tap to device technology, merchant cash advance, bill pay, expense management, virtual debit card issuance, cash disbursement, gift cards and loyalty programmes.
Viva Wallet CEO Haris Karonis says the investment “will enable us to complete the build out of our vision to deliver fully localised payments and transactions services to SMEs across Europe”.
JP Morgan says Viva Wallet is a “natural fit” for its payments business, which combines corporate treasury services, trade finance, card and merchant services capabilities. It adds the investment sets up the development of future international products and services across European SMEs.
Global head of payments at JP Morgan, Takis Georgakopoulos, adds: “The European payments landscape is fragmented yet large in terms of opportunity, with more than 17 million merchants ready to implement scalable payments solutions.”
