Currensea: Travel card fintech smashes crowdfunding target in just four hours
London fintech Currensea has smashed its online crowdfunding target after just four hours as the travel debit card company looks to pounce on a rebound in demand for overseas holidays.
The firm raised £1.7m from 760 investors on the Seedrs platform, surpassing its initial target of £1m with a company valuation of £28.5m.
Currensea said it had now extended its target to allow additional investment for a limited time, adding that it would use the money to support future customer acquisition and continued development of its co-brand offering.
Since launching in 2020, Currensea has raised a total of £11m, including a £4.5m round in 2022 involving Seedrs crowdfunding and investments from Blackfinch Ventures and 1818 Venture Capital.
The start-up claims to have saved travellers more than £4m in foreign exchange fees with a card that saves at least 85 per cent on overseas transactions by cutting out normal fees levied by high street banks.
James Lynn, Currensea’s co-founder, commented: “Smashing our initial target in record time not only demonstrates phenomenal demand but also the strong investor belief in the scalability of our solution.
“Too many people feel ripped off by FX fees when abroad, our new investors have joined our mission to create a fairer model for travel money.”
Latest data from banking trade body UK Finance shows the UK’s international debit card spend was up four per cent in March compared to a year prior.
Currensea said it surpassed 100,000 cardholders earlier this year and that the card’s monthly usage has doubled from last year.