Ch. Karonis (Viva): Many things have been done in the startup ecosystem

Efforts to unify the European market in relation to needs are very slow and time consuming, said the founder and CEO of VIVA Wallet, at the Moneyreview Banking Summit.

Viva is in a first stage that, through technology, is trying to solve this existing problem in Europe. Mr. Karonis noted that “we are all talking about a single European market, but each country has its own procedures, systems, infrastructure.

As for VIVA Wallet, he said that today it operates in 24 countries, having utilized the technology to build the first cloud based infrastructure. The fact that the system is in the cloud gives the company various possibilities, he noted. As he explained, the set of many small infrastructures in the cloud gives a service to the customer. The cloud based infrastructure is then integrated with one card and with the needs that exist in each country.

Regarding the Greek startup ecosystem, he said that many things have been done, but a rationalization is also required. As he pointed out, there is a lack of suppliers so that a small group can be helped. He noted, however, that both executives and suppliers are needed, but both are missing. At the same time, he stressed that serious investors are missing, while he spoke of a slow improvement.

Mr. Koronis pointed out that something shows the fact that someone invested 1.1 billion in a company like VIVA with Greek VAT, explaining that “the environment is in such a place that is quite good, we have nothing to fear.” Concluding, he said that the European banking system is going so slow that what one imagines can change in the next two years, will eventually change in 10 years.