Curve lands £37m investment led by Hanaco Ventures
London-based digital wallet fintech Curve has secured a £37 million investment in a funding round led by venture capital firm Hanaco Ventures.
Curve raises £37m with investment led by Hanaco Ventures
The round was supported by existing backers Fuel Ventures, IDC, Outward VC and Lord Stanley Fink, who was named as Curve’s board chair in January.
Founded in 2015, Curve offers a digital wallet that merges various payment cards into a single smart card, currently serving over six million customers worldwide.
A company statement highlighted factors such as the growing adoption of digital wallets and regulatory changes, such as Apple being required to open its NFC technology, as key drivers behind the industry entering the “Wallet Wars”, as described by Shachar Bialick, Curve’s founder and CEO.
Bialick, formerly of Checkout.com, states that the “only available solutions for customers to date are simple wallets which do nothing more than let you pay with your card”.
He claims that Curve is the only solution that enables users to split past purchases into instalments, earn cashback in addition to any card benefits, and eliminate foreign exchange fees on any linked card.
On its recent cash injection, the CEO says it will “allow us to invest further in our customer experience, bring new partnerships, and accelerate our path to profitability”.
Furthermore, the investment will also support the launch of new products, including Curve Pay, a digital wallet alternative for Android and iOS users designed to compete with Apple Pay and Google Wallet.
