Travel debit card Currensea has surpassed its crowdfunding target in just four hours after launching on the Seedrs platform. Currensea, a money-saving travel card linked to existing current accounts, has already raised over £1.7m from 760 investors.

Currensea initially targeted a raise of £1m in this Seedrs crowdfunding round - with a company valuation of £28.5m - however, due to widespread demand from investors this target has been extended allowing additional investment for a limited time.

Consumer appetite for travel is rebounding to pre-pandemic levels – figures from Deloitte indicate that 51% of UK adults are planning an overseas holiday during 2024 (up 6% on last year) whilst 54% of travellers expect to spend more this year*. However, given the ongoing impact of the cost of living crisis, maximising the value of savings is vital.

Currensea calculates UK travellers are currently spending £2.7bn in foreign exchange fees every year from using their bank cards abroad.

The latest figures from UK Finance indicate that the UK’s international debit card spend is up 9% on last year**.

The Currensea card saves at least 85% on every overseas transaction by cutting out the normal fees leveraged by banks and other providers.

There has been a strong growth in usage of Currensea’s solution as it surpassed 100k cardholders earlier this year and the card is now used globally every nine seconds. Monthly usage of the Currensea card has also doubled from last year as travellers increasingly look to reduce foreign exchange (FX) fees and enhance value. 

Since its launch in 2020, Currensea has saved travellers over £4 million in FX fees. For example, a user spending $1500 while visiting the USA would save £35 compared to using a card from a high-street bank.

The amount raised through this crowdfunding round will support future customer acquisition and continued development of Currensea’s co-brand offering. 

James Lynn, Co-Founder of Currensea, comments: “Consumer appetite for travel has almost fully recovered from the pandemic and the unprecedented investor demand for Currensea demonstrates the need for a simple solution that eliminates FX fees and maximises the value of our savings.

“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.”

In 2022, Currensea raised over £4.5m through a Seedrs crowdfunding raise as well as VC investment

from leading Venture Capitalists Blackfinch Ventures and 1818 Venture Capital.  Since launch, Currensea has raised a total of £11m.

Currensea users can also support the fintech’s sustainability initiatives – users can opt to remove 100 plastic bottles from the ocean for every £1 saved in foreign exchange fees. Since launch, users have contributed the removal of 9m bottles from the ocean