London-based fintech Currensea raised £1.35m in capital on crowdfunding platform Seedrs within the first two hours of going live, beating its £1m target.

Of Currensea’s 350 crowdfunding investors, almost half are current users of the platform.

“There has been phenomenal demand among investors, clearly demonstrating the scalability and need for a workable solution to the currency trap we’ve all been forced to endure for far too long,” said James Lynn, co- founder of Currsea.

Currensea is a free direct debit travel card that is linked to a person’s checking account to give them access to foreign currency abroad.

It integrates directly with your existing checking accounts using open banking technology and automatically withdraws money from your bank account when used abroad.

There are also paid cards that offer better exchange rates.

Lynn added: “Currensea was created to give travelers more control over how they spend their money, finally providing a solution to the exorbitant foreign exchange fees that had long seemed inevitable.”

Currensea was founded in 2018 by former employees of Barclays and JPMorgan. To date, he has over £5m in funding.

The company is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Earlier this week, major follow-on investments were made in two other UK fintech companies. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Zilch has added £41m to its Series C round and Gen Z financial adviser Cleo has raised £66m in Series C funding.