London, 19th April, 2021 – Zilch, the London based start-up redefining the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) industry, today announces it has raised $80M in their series B funding round, backed by numerous investors including Gauss Ventures and M&F Fund. Over the last 2 years, the company has raised more than $120 million and is now valued at over $500M.
The fintech is committed to responsible spending and is the first and only fully Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated BNPL in the UK. The startup is scaling at pace, its mobile app recently hit number 2 on the App Store charts just behind PayPal and its growing customer base is fast approaching half a million customers. Zilch is one of the fastest growing BNPL providers in the UK with thousands of signups a day.
The funding will be used to launch in the USA and continue the company’s growth in the UK by investing further in product innovation and development. Over 2020 Zilch has rapidly expanded its internal talent and more than quadrupled its headcount to 80, with 100 new hires planned as it grows its UK headquarters and looks to enter the US market. Strategic hire includes Werner Kruger, ex VP of Data Science at Klarna and Monese’s ex-Chief Analytics Officer, as Chief Data Officer and more recently, Amabel Polglase, ex-Head of Global Clients at Facebook, as Chief Marketing Officer.
Unlike other players in the industry, Zilch is the first truly over-the-top (OTT) BNPL product that allows its customers to shop wherever MasterCard is accepted and spread their payment over 6 weeks for zero interest and zero fees. This lightweight, direct-to-consumer model allows Zilch to build direct relationships with its customers – Zilch is now the highest-rated product of its kind on Trustpilot – and scale significantly faster than its competitors as its deployment strategy is not restricted by borders or merchant acquisition and integration.
Philip Belamant, Founder and CEO at Zilch, “This funding is a demonstration of the confidence and strength of Zilch’s mission and products. By putting the customer first and building direct relationships with each of them, we are doing something no one else in the industry has done before. Zilch is far more than a BNPL company. We will very soon be launching in a number of new countries and continue the testing and rapid rollout of alternate ways for our customers to spend with Zilch.
Our inspiration is fuelled by Gen Z and millennials, who make up a large part of our customer base. Their demand for convenient and transparent products drives us to keep innovating and improving our offering. We have built a digital platform that links our customer with every retailer in the world allowing us to learn what our customers want, build those features and ship them for a dime to every customer of ours in an instant – exciting times ahead!”
Zilch is the only fully Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated player in the UK, having worked with the regulator over 12 months to secure a consumer credit authorisation in 2020 – a testament to Zilch’s unique approach of placing consumer financial wellness at the heart of its operations.
This funding round follows Zilch’s latest announcement of their latest unique feature, Tap and Pay-over-time. The fintech aims to become the largest BNPL player in-store in the UK without the need for its customers to use annoying bar / QR codes. This will be the first-ever product of its kind in the UK and Europe and will allow Zilch customers to add the Zilch card to their digital wallet of choice and easily tap and pay in-store and spread the costs over a six-week period.
Zilch is built upon responsibility, offers transparency and is the only player in the industry that uses Open Banking technology combined with soft credit checks to gain a real-time view and understanding of the consumer’s affordability profile and make an accurate recommendation of what they can afford, preventing debt.