Greek FinTech Viva Wallet has raised $80m in financing to bolster its loans and instant payment services.
The company secured the financing round thanks to funding from Chinese technology behemoth Tencent as well as Breyer Capital and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Founded in 2010, Viva provides businesses with the opportunity to accept 24 payment methods. The company offers multi-feature smart android card terminals, provides card processing through its own cloud-based infrastructure, card-present and card-not-present acquiring services, merchants accounts and debit card issuing. Viva currently trades in 23 European markets and intends to expand to Croatia, Sweden and Hungary soon.
According to Viva, the funding will be used in part to expand its loans programs as well as bolstering its point-of-sale top-on-phone solution which can turn any Android device into a card terminal to accept both PIN and contactless payments without the need for other hardware.
The round is notable for coming at a time when Europe is slowly, hopefully poking its head out from under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has shaken and knocked over many an economy already wobbling even before the public health crisis. Focused primarily on merchants, Viva Wallet is a prime example of the kind of tech business that might help some of these critical businesses recover.
Viva CEO and founder Haris Karonis said, “We are excited to onboard Tencent, EBRD and Breyer Capital to Viva Wallet. We are confident that our investors’ extensive know-how and network of partnerships will accelerate Viva Wallet’s plan to unify the fragmented European payments market. The technology innovations that we are bringing forward to European merchants will help them provide a frictionless, localised payment experience to all their clients, and liberate them from the hassle of maintaining legacy card terminals.”
Breyer Capital CEO Jim Breyer added, “We are very excited to help Viva Wallet unify the fragmented European payments ecosystem across 23 countries. Viva Wallet is at the forefront of a paradigm shift for fintech and together, we expect to transform the payments industry in Europe.”
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