Viva Wallet Group
Greek Neobank
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Viva.com is a Greek tech bank for businesses with presence in 29 European countries. In January 2022, Viva.com became the first Greek unicorn startup[1] company after an agreement with JP Morgan Chase was announced.
 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Neobank |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founders | Haris Karonis Makis Antypas |
| Headquarters | Athens, Greece |
Key people | Haris Karonis (CEO) |
| Owner | Viva Wallet Holdings Software Development (51.5%) JPMorgan Chase (48.5%) |
Number of employees | 427 (2020) |
| Subsidiaries | Vivabank Viva Services Viva Payment Services |
| Website | viva |
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.[2][3]
Three years later, in 2014, the company obtained an Electronic Money Association License[4] and announced the completion of its Series A round funding round, led by the Latsis family office.[5]
In 2020, Viva Wallet expanded its services to 23 European countries.[6] On August 3 of the same year, the company announced the acquisition of the banking license of Praxia Bank.[7][7] Vivabank is a credit institution licensed and supervised by the Bank of Greece.[8]
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.[9]
In January 2022, JPMorgan Chase announced that it was to buy a 48.5% stake in Viva Wallet Holdings Software Development S.A.[10]
In February 2025, Viva.com merged Viva Payments into VivaBank.[11]
In 2026, Viva.com launched operations in 5 more European countries [ Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Estonia] reaching a total number of 29 countries[12], including all 27 members of EAA plus the UK and Norway.