Viva Wallet, a pan-European Neobank providing localised payment and credit services to businesses across 23 European countries, announces it has secured additional financing of $80 million from several technology and financial services investors, including Tencent, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Breyer Capital.
„Viva Wallet will leverage the new financing to accelerate the deployment of its “Tap-on-Phone” solution for in-store payments,” according to the press release.
“Tap on Phone” turns any Android device into a card terminal, thus allowing businesses to accept both contactless and PIN payments without the need for separate hardware.
Viva Wallet claims to be the first company to push this innovation across Europe to help merchants at scale do more and better business.
For e-commerce payments, Viva Wallet is also launching its innovative “one-line-of-code-integration” Smart-Checkout, „which adapts dynamically to cardholders’ locality and preferences and vastly improves conversion rates”.
In addition to its payments offer, Viva Wallet is launching Merchant Advance loans for its clients across Europe. The credit products are serviced through Vivabank, leveraging third-party SPVs financing through a loan securitisation process.
This is part of the strategy behind the successful acquisition of the digital challenger Praxia Bank last year, which has since been rebranded to Vivabank.
Jefferies has facilitated Viva Wallet’s financing process and the SPV funding.
“We are excited to onboard Tencent, EBRD and Breyer Capital to Viva Wallet,” said Haris Karonis, Founder and CEO of 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.”
“Tencent shares Viva Wallet’s aspirations of creating value for users and partners through innovation. We look forward to supporting Viva Wallet in its expansion across Europe. “ — Danying Ma, Managing Director, Tencent Investment.
Andreea Moraru, EBRD Head of Greece and Cyprus, said: “We are delighted to support Viva Wallet in accelerating the deployment of its innovative payment solutions including “Tap-on-Phone” for in-store payments. Digital transition is among the top priorities for the EBRD and we’re very proud to help companies like Viva Wallet reach their full potential and offer high quality services to clients all over Europe. We believe that, with the power of technology, businesses can promote inclusion, integration and resilience. We are confident that EBRD funding, know-how and local presence will help Viva Wallet achieve its strategic goals and support an exceptional number of SME merchants and start-ups with improved payment services offering.”
“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” said Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital.
_____________
Viva Wallet is the first European entirely cloud-based neobank with offices in 23 European Countries. Created to change the way businesses pay and get paid, Viva Wallet offers businesses of all sizes acceptance-Card Present of Card not Present- of 24 payment methods, as well as business accounts with local IBAN and debit card issuing.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
