Viva Wallet to sell half of the company to JP Morgan in a $1 billion deal.

Viva Wallet, an Athens, Greece-based payment provider, announced getting into an investment agreement with JP Morgan.

The deal was made for the acquisition of 49% of Viva Wallet in a deal estimated the media at $1 billion, with the initial team of Haris Karonis retaining 51% and the management.

The deal was made as JP Morgan recently unveiled its brand for payments to SMEs, Chase Payment Solutions, in the U.S., and the strategic investment in Viva Wallet according to the announcement lays the foundations for the development of future international products and services to all European SMEs.

Viva Wallet, founded in 2000 by CEO Haris Karonis, includes VivaWallet Holding SA (parent of the group, former Realize SA), a leader in IT transaction systems, Viva Electronic Services SA (B2C services) and Viva Payment Services. Viva Payments is the only e-money institution in Greece which operates as Principal Member of MasterCard and Visa. The company offers payment services in 23 European markets and plans soon to expand to Croatia, Hungary and Sweden.

The company was backed by Tencent, EBRD and Breyer Capital and raised $80 million in 2021.

JP Morgan’s investment in Viva Wallet follows that in Volkswagen Financial Services AG last November, a major payment and loan provider in Europe.