Digital banking challenger teams up with Xero

Connected finance startup Curve enters partnership to help streamline business spending.

Yet more news involving a partnership between online accounting firm Xero and a fellow fintech firm. This time the alliance is with digital banking challenger Curve, which recently raised $10m in a series A investment round.

Curve caters exclusively to business owners, directors, freelancers and contractors in Europe. It allows users to consolidate all of their bank accounts into one, and to spend from any of those accounts using one Curve card.

The Xero integration means that users can process expenses seamlessly, sending them straight to Xero accounting software. Curve estimates that the partnership could save the UK’s small business owners a staggering 65 million days of wasted time each year – worth over £7bn to the British economy.

“Everyone hates doing their expenses,” said Arthur Leung, product lead at Curve. “It’s a tedious, manual job that takes up too much time. But it doesn’t have to be that way: now, Curve will do the job for you, regardless of the bank you use.”

By removing the risk of human error, Curve also believes that life will be made easier for accountants and bookkeepers.

“I’m excited to tell my clients about it – not only because it comes at no cost, but it will make their bookkeeping simpler with minimum fuss so that we can focus on adding real value as business advisors,” said Nathan Keeley, partner at accounting firm MHA Carpenter Box.

Synergies abound between accounting software companies and other types of fintech firm. MarketInvoice, for example, is integrated with the software as a means of approving prospective borrowers for funding more easily.

Curve has more than 75,000 sign-ups to its name at present. Those users have spent almost £70m in over 100 countries to date. Curve expects to open to consumers before the end of the year.