UK startup Curve adds wearable payments as it plans US expansion

U.K.-based card startup Curve is launching payments through wearables, including on Garmin, Fitbit and Sony Wena devices. The company offers a physical and digital card that consolidates multiple bank accounts and cards into one payment vehicle, supported by Mastercard. It's available as app and card, and lets customers keep track of incoming and outgoing transactions in one place. With the new partnership Curve customers can upload a card to their wearable device, even if that particular bank or card was previously incompatible with the wearable device the customer uses. Nathalie Oestmann, chief operating officer, said the company decided to roll out wearable payments to keep pace with consumer behavior trends. “Through our customer research, we understand that there's a lifestyle associated with our customers that are centered around travel and fitness," she said. Curve, a four-year-old company, has reportedly raised more than $74 million in total, including a $55 million Series B led by Gauss Ventures in July. The startup emphasized that it is not a challenger bank, but a platform that's complementary to other bank accounts and cards. Customers can connect the Curve card and app to Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Amplify Credit Union rolls out mobile banking via Apple Watch “We’re not competing [with other fintechs]-- we're actually helping those financial institutions that are at varying degrees of development in their user experience,” Oestmann explained. She confirmed that the startup is looking to expand to the U.S. in the coming year. Curve’s app and card are available in 31 countries in Europe, and more than 30% of users are from outside of the U.K., according to the company. Wearable payments are a tool for breaking into new markets, including Poland, Portugal, Italy, France, according to the company. “We found is that word of mouth was getting [Curve] a lot of traction across the European market," said Oestmann, "We're going to start to focus on localizing our product for those markets." Despite Curve's enthusiasm about wearable payments, user adoption among U.S customers may be a challenge. "The global market for smart wearable devices is growing quickly, although not necessarily in the U.S., as Asian countries such as China are prodigious buyers of these devices," wrote payments analyst Michael Moeser. By contrast, wearable payment user adoption in Europe is climbing rapidly. According to Mastercard , the total number of European wearable payment transactions this past year was almost 20 times higher than North America. Bank Innovation Ignite, which will take place on March 2-3 in Seattle, is a must-attend industry event for professionals overseeing financial technologies, product experiences and services. This is an exclusive, invitation-only event for executives eager to learn about the latest innovations. Request your invitation .

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UK startup Curve adds wearable payments as it plans US expansion

With $200m debt capital raise, Brex seeks to grow e-commerce client base

BofA’s AI-powered assistant Erica pulls in 10 million users

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