Haris Karonis,VIVA WALLET: Achieving the first Greek unicorn

Haris Karonis is one of the founders of VIVA WALLET, the company that JP MORGAN acquired 49% share at more than 1.5 billion euros valuation. The first Greek unicorn started as a fintech service provider of electronic transactions and payments and recently evolved into a full-digital neobank. Viva has its entire infrastructure in the cloud and designs apps that turn smartphones into payment systems. Viva Wallet struggled to emerge through the Greek market; however, it remained at its core a fintech company and achieved something that seemed inconceivable. Viva has a commercial presence in 23 countries, and JPM acquired 49% to set foot in Europe and increase its competitive position in the US. Haris talks to Marco Veremis and Alexis Papahelas about how he started his journey from Peristeri in West Athens to conquer the world of digital banking. He talks about the difficulties he faced in Greece and abroad during an extremely tough period for the country and in an industry where outstanding reputation is a prerequisite to accomplishing anything. He fought hard, was not disappointed, and used as a compass the quality of his work and his people, the "VIVA mafia," as he likes to call them. See a natural talent that turned every crisis into a business and investment opportunity.

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