Financial super-app Curve lands $1bn credit facility from Credit Suisse

Financial super-app Curve has secured a $1 billion credit facility from Swiss banking group Credit Suisse as it looks to scale its lending business Curve Flex across the UK, EU and US.

Curve secures $1bn deal with Credit Suisse

Curve Flex allows customers to split transactions made with Curve “at any merchant, using any card, anywhere in the world” into monthly installments. It launched in the UK with a product called Swipe Now to Pay Later (SNPL), enabling customers to split Curve card transactions into three, six, nine or 12 monthly installments.

With the new funding, Curve plans to roll out the product across the EU and US markets as well as offer new services, including providing the ability to access a direct credit line before making purchases and the ability to refinance existing credit lines. In 2023, it also plans to launch a buy now, pay later (BNPL) type of lending offering to its customers.

The firm says its real-time access to spend and behavioural data, coupled with a broad view of customers’ financial positions, means it is “best positioned” to underwrite risk and offer lending products to customers.

“We have ambitious plans for lending,” says Paul Harrald, CIO of Curve Group and global head of Curve Credit, the firm’s consumer lending business. He adds that securing financing “of this size during this period of economic uncertainty is a testament to the broad support of our bold expansion plans”.

Launched in 2018, Curve combines all of a customer’s existing bank accounts and payment cards into one smart card, accessible through its app. There, users can track their transactions and finances and earn cashback and rewards on purchases.

To date, the company has raised more than $180 million in equity investment and is live in 31 markets across the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA).