J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Viva Wallet Holdings Software Development S.A. and its existing shareholders to acquire an ownership stake of approximately 49%, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are very excited to make a strategic investment in Viva Wallet to support their vision to empower new growth and payments innovation targeted at European small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and middle market merchant services clients,” said Takis Georgakopoulos, Global Head of J.P. Morgan Payments.

Founded in 2000, Viva Wallet is headquartered in Athens, Greece, and focuses on serving SMBs in 23 countries. The company built a proprietary, cloud-based payments platform that is able to offer a broad array of value-added services to merchants including tap to device technology, merchant cash advance, bill pay, expense management, virtual debit card issuance, cash disbursement, gift cards and loyalty.

Haris Karonis, CEO & co-founder of Viva Wallet, says:

“This strategic investment from J.P. Morgan’s Payments business will enable us to complete the build out of our vision to deliver fully localized payments and transactions services to SMBs across Europe.”

J.P. Morgan’s Payments business is focused on growing its omnichannel merchant acquiring capabilities offered to European SMBs. The strategic investment in Viva Wallet is a natural fit for J.P. Morgan’s Payments business – which combines corporate treasury services, trade finance, card and merchant services capabilities – to deliver an integrated payments experience to clients across the economy. The business recently unveiled its brand for SMB payments, Chase Payment Solutions, in the US and the strategic investment in Viva Wallet sets the stage to develop future international products and services across European SMBs.