Less than a year after Curve launched its cross-border P2P service to solidify its mobile banking app, the London-based company says it is expanding into Lithuania to establish a post-Brexit European base.
Last year's
In Lithuania, Curve brings a mobile platform that, in addition to contactless and mobile payments features, will provide all banking services, competitive FX rates and free ATM withdrawals.
After studying options in Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, Curve executives decided on Lithuania as its best option to continue to advance customer relationships in Europe.
“We chose Lithuania as a gateway to Europe because of the ease of business there, its welcoming culture and world-class AML standards," Shachar Bialick, founder and CEO of Curve, said in a Monday press release.
Through support from Bank of Lithuania and Invest Lithuania in accepting Curve's application, Bialick said the Curve platform will get a "huge boost" for serving customers around Europe out of the Lithuania operation.
Curve has already integrated its platform with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, providing its cardholders and platform users with payment methods they have seen in operation in their markets. Apple Pay has already been rolled out in 30 countries, giving Curve a solid foundation for that payment option in its cross-border payments.
Curve says its integration with Google Pay enabled customers with BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole in France, Deutsche Bank and DZ Bank AG in Germany, and Santader and CaixaBank in Spain access to these platforms for the first time.
Since launching in 2015, Curve has completed four funding rounds, accumulating close to £70.7 million (US $92 million) in total funding to date.
Investors include Santander InnoVentures, Investec, Oxford Capital, Breega Capital, Speedinvest, Seedcamp and Connect Ventures.
