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Oxford Capital joins $10m Series A funding round in 'connected finance' startup Curve

Curve – the UK fintech startup that combines your cards into one Mastercard®, connected to a mobile app – has closed a Series A funding round of $10m, bringing total funding to $13m. Oxford Capital participated in the funding round alongside a group of global banks, leading VCs and industry veterans.

Alongside Oxford Capital, the following investors have backed Curve in this round:

  • Global banking providers: Santander Innoventures, Investec
  • Other VCs and investment groups: Connect Ventures, Speedinvest, Breega Capital, Samos Investments
  • Individual investors: Henry Ritchotte (ex Deutsche Bank COO), Gael de Boissard (ex Credit Suisse board member), Alessandro Hatami (The Pacemakers; ex Lloyds, Paypal, GE Capital), Paul Townsend (Vitesse PSP, Barclays, WorldPay), Emilian Popa (Rocket Internet, Naspers, Groupon), Rohan Haldea (Apax Partners)

 

Curve customers use an all-cards-in-one Curve Mastercard card to spend from their card-linked accounts, and a secure mobile app to manage their money in one place. Curve is currently in Beta and is available to the self-employed: entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners in the UK. It can be used anywhere in the world that accepts Mastercard. Curve has been used for over £50m in payments in over 100 countries, ahead of fully launching out of Beta. Over 50,000 people have already signed up to Curve.

During Beta, Curve has launched a number of industry-leading features that make banking simpler and safer for customers on the go. These include the ability to spend like a local and save money on FX without changing your banking provider, Curve Rewards, the first programme with instant earn and instant spend rewards, and ‘Go Back in Time’, a patent-pending feature to easily switch the card you paid with retroactively to two weeks after a transaction. The app will also soon roll-out ‘Curve Connect’, allowing users to integrate their spending with other business and banking services – re-bundling the increasingly fragmented financial sector in one secure smartphone app.

This latest funding round will allow Curve to accelerate growth by building more innovative features and recruiting world-class talent ahead of its full launch. Other existing investors in Curve include: Seedcamp, Taavet Hinrikus (TransferWise), Ed Wray (Betfair), Ricky Knox (Tandem), Michael Kent (Azimo) and the founders of Google Wallet and Money20/20.

The company was recently named one of Europe’s 50 hottest fintech startups and joined Tech City UK’s Upscale 2017, a hand-picked network of the UK’s most promising technology companies.

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Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.

What are the key risks?

  1. You could lose all the money you invest
    1. If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invested. Most start-up businesses fail.
  2. You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong
    1. Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here.
    2. Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.
  3. You won’t get your money back quickly
    1. Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.
    2. The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.
    3. If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.
  4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
    1. Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.
    2. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest
  5. The value of your investment can be reduced
    1. The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.
    2. These new shares could have additional rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here.