Curve raises $3m to replace the wallet with a card and app

Curve raises $3m to replace the wallet with a card and app

Curve, a London-based startup that lets users replace multiple cards with a single piece of plastic and a mobile app, has raised $3 million.

The money, which comes from the likes of Connect Ventures and Samos Investments, takes the company's seed funding to $5 million ahead of what it claims will be a "sizeable" Series A by the end of the year.

Built on the MasterCard network, the Curve card - which costs £35 - launched in beta in February, targeting small business owners. A consumer card is set to arrive early next year and already has a "large" waiting list, claims the firm.

Curve lets users store their debit and credit cards within its mobile app and then spend from them using its single piece of plastic. The company argues that this is not only convenient but saves users money thanks to super-low FX rates when travelling abroad and Curve reward points on top of the existing card rewards.

However, earlier this year one of the card's big selling points was killed off by American Express. Initially, the card let users recharge transactions to their AmEx accounts. This meant that they could use AmEx at places where it is not usually accepted and the card could be used for ATM withdrawals that were treated as purchases so that users could earn air miles.

Despite this perk disappearing, the company is confident about its future in the wake of the latest funding, with CEO Shachar Bialick saying: "Curve is exactly on-track in executing the vision we had almost two years ago, to consolidate a fragmented financial world into a single platform. We’re already receiving fantastic user feedback and unparalleled business results in terms of retention, engagement and revenues."

Comments: (2)

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 22 September, 2016, 00:36Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

+1

"bPay" for that money?..

They cannot do real-time back to back charging (card schemes told mighty Google not to do that); pre-paid model does not deliver the needed benefits. IMHO...

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