Draft:Currensea

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Currensea
Currensea Limited
IndustryFinancial Technology
Founded13 June 2018, six years ago
FounderJames Lynn, Craig Goulding
HeadquartersLondon, UK
Key people
James Lynn (co-CEO)

Craig Goulding (co-CEO) Elizabeth Chambers (Non-Executive Director)

Ian O' Doherty (Advisor)
ProductsDebit Cards
ServicesCurrency Exchange, Payments
Revenue£6.9M (2023)
Number of employees
41 (2022)
Websitehttps://www.currensea.com/

Currensea Limited,[1] trading as Currensea, is a British financial technology company, founded by ex-Barclays and JP Morgan investment bankers James Lynn and Craig Goulding in 2018.[2] It became the world’s first Card-Based Payment Instrument Issuer (CBPII) and launched its consumer and business propositions in 2020,[3] following the implementation of open banking regulations in the UK in 2018.[4]

Currensea provides the UK’s first direct debit travel card, which connects directly to users’ existing personal bank accounts.[5]

History[edit]

2017-2018[edit]

In 2017, James Lynn and Craig Goulding experienced frustration with the excessive charges levied by traditional banks following their family’s summer vacations. They decided to find an alternative way of eliminating the banks’ charges abroad.[6]

Lynn had an extensive background in forex and building electronic trading platforms, whilst Goulding was the former CTO of Investment Banking at JP Morgan and chief engineer of open banking at Lloyds Banking Group.[7][8]

On 13 June 2018, Currensea was co-founded by Lynn and Goulding.[9]

In July 2018, Currensea was accepted into the FCA’s Innovate Program.[10]

In November 2018, Lynn and Goulding partnered with Mastercard to build the UK’s first open-banking direct debit travel card.[9]

2019-2020[edit]

In February 2019, Currensea was selected to join the FCA’s regulatory sandbox to build and test the Currensea concept.[11]

In July 2019, Currensea was authorised by the FCA as the UK’s first regulated CBPII and appointed as a Principal Member of Mastercard.[11]

In September 2019, Currensea was connected to all the major UK high-street banks.[11]

On 9 September 2019, Currensea opened a waitlist for its new travel money card. It was the first in the UK to be linked directly to users’ bank accounts. Other challenger banks , including Monzo, Starling and Revolut, also launched cards with no transaction fees and competitive exchange rates. However, they all required customers to open an account with them.[12]

In January 2020, Currensea launched its travel money card to consumers in the UK.[13]

In March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Two weeks later, Britain was locked down and ‘the travel industry went into meltdown’.[4] This was the ‘worst timing in history’ to launch an open banking travel card.[14]

On 15 October 2020, Currensea launched the ‘first-of-its-kind’ open banking debit card for small businesses trading internationally through their existing bank account.[15]

During 2020, Currensea won a series of awards for its open banking innovation including IBS Intelligence Global Fintech Innovation Awards for ‘Most Impactful Project API/Open Banking’,[16] The Emerging Payments Awards for ‘Leading Banking or Open Banking Initiative’ and ‘Leading Financial Services or Payments Start-Up’,[17] FF PayTech Awards for ‘Paytech of the Future’,[18] and Payment Awards for ‘PSD2 or ‘Open Banking Initiative of the Year’.[19]

Currensea was also named by BusinessCloud as one of 100 Fintech Disruptors of 2020.[20]

2021-2022[edit]

On 9 July 2021, Currensea announced it was partnering with Singapore Airlines in the first-of-its-kind air miles offering.[21] Cardholders were able to collect KrisFlyer miles when they spent with Currensea.[22]

In November 2021, Currensea launched a ‘powered by’ programme, allowing travellers to convert savings from their FX fees into charity donations.[23] ‘Powered by’ charities include Knight Frank[24] and the Royal Society of Medicine.[25]

In January 2022, a ‘round-up’ feature was added to encourage further charitable donations.[26]

During 2021, Currensea received further awards, including FStech Awards for ‘Open Banking Product or Service of the Year’,[27] The Emerging Payments Awards for ‘Best International Payments, Remittance or use of FX',[28] and The Card and Payments Awards for ‘Best Initiative in Open Banking’.[29]

On 20 September 2022, it was reported that Currensea users had contributed to ‘almost 120,000 trees being planted’ and ‘1.75 million plastic bottles removed from the ocean’ through donations of savings that were made when using the card since 2020.[30]

On 9 December 2022, it was announced that Currensea was available on Google Pay.[31]

In 2022, Currensea was also named ‘Best Open Finance Innovation’ at the Open Banking Expo Awards.[32]

2023-24[edit]

In 2023, Currensea won ‘Best Currency Travel Card’ at the Moneynet Awards.[33]

In December 2023, Nuts About Money named Currensea as ‘the best travel card overall’.[34]

In January 2024, it was reported that Currensea had saved travellers over £3 million in exchange fees.[35]

Services[edit]

Currensea offers three products: Currensea Essential, Currensea Premium and Currency Elite. Currensea connects to an existing personal UK bank account to remove banking fees when spending in foreign currencies.[36] Customers can choose to donate a percentage of the savings they make using the card to either one or both of Currensea-supported causes.[37]Currensea Business allows SMEs to make international transactions with no bank charges and with no need to set up a separate business bank account.[38]

Funding[edit]

Currensea secured an initial £450,000 pre-seed funding from Angel investors in October 2018.[8]

It raised a further £1.4m through additional seed funding rounds in 2019 & 2020.[10]

In 2022, Currensea closed a pre-Series A funding round worth £4.6m, including a £2.4m investment from venture capitalists Blackfinch Ventures and 1818 Venture Capital. The company was valued at “close to £20 million”.[39][14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “CURRENSEA LIMTED overview – Find and update company information – GOV.UK”. Companies House. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  2. ^ “Companies-Currensea-FintechFinance”. Fintech Finance News. 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024
  3. ^ “Company-Currensea-Altfi”. Altfi. 2013-2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b Clawson, Trevor (October 9, 2020). “Staycation – How a UK open banking fintech diversified from travel transactions to SME Payments”. Forbes. Retrieved 24 January 2024
  5. ^ “UK’s first direct debit travel card startup Currensea secures £2.4M funding”. TechFundingNews. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  6. ^ “About Currensea – The Travel Card”. Currensea. 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  7. ^ “Discover Currensea – Travel spend done differently”. Currensea. 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  8. ^ a b Hares, Sophie (December 22, 2022) “Bon Voyage to foreign exchange fees”. Mastercard.com. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  9. ^ a b “CURRENSEA LIMITED persons with significant control – Find and update company information – GOV.UK”. Companies House. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b “Seedrs – Currensea”. Seedrs. 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  11. ^ a b c “FCA – Regulatory Sandbox – Accepted Firms”. FCA. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  12. ^ Menin, Anna (9 September, 2019) “Fintech advised by former Amazon and Visa executive to launch travel card”. City A.M. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  13. ^ Donovan-Stevens, Amber (May 16, 2020). “Currensea: the UK’s first travel money card linked to your bank”. Fintech Magazine. Retrieved 30 January 2024
  14. ^ a b Johansson, Eric (30 September, 2022) “Currensea bags £2.4 million for open banking travel card launched with “the worst timing in history”. Verdict. 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  15. ^ “British Fintech Currensea launches first-of-its-kind open banking debit card to propel small businesses trading internationally”. The Payments Association. 13 October 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2024
  16. ^ “IBS Intelligence Global Fintech Innovation Awards 2020”. IBS Intelligence. 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  17. ^ “The Emerging Payments Awards 2020”. The Payments Association. 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  18. ^ “PayTech Awards 2020”. FinTech Futures. 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  19. ^ “Payments Awards Winners 2020”. Payments Awards. 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  20. ^ “100 Fintech Disruptors: Vote”. BusinessCloud. 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  21. ^ “Travel Direct Debit Card Currensea Partners with Singapore Airlines in First-of-its-kind Offering”. Fintech Finance. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  22. ^ “Singapore Airlines – Financial Services Partner – Currensea”. Singapore Airlines. 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  23. ^ May, Melanie (5 November 2021) “Travel debit card services lets cardholders donate with every transaction”. UK Fundraising. 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  24. ^ “Knight Frank partners with Currensea to allow employees to donate to charity with new branded debit card”. Fintech Finance. July 5, 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  25. ^ “Royal Society of Medicine launches its own debit card”. Hospital Times. 6 September, 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  26. ^ “Currensea releases round-up feature to encourage donations”. Finextra. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  27. ^ “FStech Awards 2021”. FStech Awards. 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  28. ^ “The Emerging Payments Awards 2021”. The Payments Association. 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  29. ^ “The Card and Payments Awards 2021”. The Card and Payment Awards. 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  30. ^ "UK travellers remove 1.75m bottles from the ocean by donating to environmental causes through Currensea”. Sustainability Voices. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  31. ^ “Currensea available on GooglePay”. The Paypers. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  32. ^ “Open Banking Expo Awards 2022”. Open Banking Expo Awards. 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  33. ^ “Moneynet Awards 2023”. Moneynet.co.uk. 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  34. ^ “The best prepaid travel cards (travel money cards) in 2024”. Nuts About Money Ltd. 28 December 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  35. ^ “Travel debit card Currensea saves travellers over £3m in exchange fees”. Fintech Finance. 2 January 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  36. ^ “Currensea – Personal”. Currensea. 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  37. ^ “Currensea –Giving back”. Currensea. 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  38. ^ “Currensea – Business”. Currensea. 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  39. ^ “Currensea secures £750k investment from Blackfinch Ventures”. Blackfinch. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2024
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