Banking challenger Curve launches to UK consumers
By Emily Nicolle on Wednesday 17 January 2018
The wait has ended: Curve's "connected card" is now live.
Curve, the mobile app that connects all of your debit and credit cards to one 'Curve' card, launched for UK consumers today. Previously only available to business owners, directors, contractors and freelancers in Europe, more than 100,000 people signed up during Curve's beta phase, spending over £100m in more than 100 countries.
Research by Curve shows that consumers carry an average of eight cards in their wallet, as well as owning several apps and products to help manage their money. Curve aims to unify all these functions by providing one card for spending and an app to help manage each account.
New customers can download the Curve app, securely add their existing cards and start spending from all their card-linked accounts with one Curve Mastercard for contactless, chip and PIN, magstripe and ATM withdrawals. Users set a default spending card and can change it at any time by swiping between accounts in the app.
The mobile app also protects users with instant spending notifications, a 'lock card' feature and 24/7 support, as well as spending insights for all card-linked accounts. Curve also allows consumers to use their regular bank cards overseas without hidden fees, and removes any currency exchange fees that their usual banks would charge.
Users can even switch payments between cards up to two weeks after purchase, using Curve's world-first 'Go Back In Time' feature.
Mariano Belinky, Managing Partner at Santander InnoVentures – one of Curve's early backers – commented: "Services like Spotify, Citymapper and Amazon Echo are bringing together data and services to make it easier for people to manage different aspects of their life - from travel to getting a better deal.
"We will soon ​see people managing their money in a similar way - using a single intelligent platform to connect all their accounts and services. Curve's launch is an important milestone in the evolution of consumer finance and we are delighted to have supported its development."
Other investors include Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Lloyds, Groupon and Google Wallet. Curve will begin shipping out its cards this week to those already signed up to its waitlist, which currently sits at just over 50,000. New customers will join Curve's waitlist, but can skip the queue by referring friends to the platform.
The platform recently announced an integration with accounting software Xero to help streamline business spending, after raising $10m in a Series A funding round in July 2017.