Zilch, the London-based double unicorn, today announced it has secured an additional $50m in funding, taking the total raise for its Series C to $160m. The extension brings Zilch’s total funding to more than $460m in debt and equity and sees the fintech company maintain its valuation.
 
The additional capital will be used to further fund business growth, with a focus on the US market where Zilch recently opened its Miami office and launched with more than 150,000 pre-registered customers. Early numbers are showing significant momentum with growth rates of over 4x what was achieved in the UK where Zilch reached 2 million new customers in just 18 months  - over 2x faster than other leading fintechs managed to reach the same milestone.
 
In the last six months, Zilch has leveraged its innovative, direct-to-consumer approach to double underlying sales and revenue. Customers can pay on debit (with up to 2% instant cashback and rewards) or credit (pay-in-4) for no interest or late fees, anywhere. Customers have already benefited from over $55m in savings and rewards by using Zilch instead of high-cost credit or debit cards that offer zero rewards. This differentiated model has seen Zilch achieve higher utilisation than any other peer in the space,  with mature customer cohorts now using Zilch daily, resulting in net transaction margin profitability.
 

Philip Belamant, CEO & Co-Founder, said, “In a world of rising interest rates and inflation, it has never been more important for customers to have access to a payment product that they can depend on for savings, deals and cash flow management with no interest or late fees of any kind. Open Banking data shows how customers of all ages are migrating away from traditional high-cost credit cards or overdrafts in favour of services like Zilch - saving them millions. This extension is a great endorsement of our unique model as well as our investors' belief in our ability to deliver on our mission to create the world’s most empowering way for people to pay for anything, anywhere.” 
 

Sean O’Connor, Co-Founder, said, “Since we founded Zilch and began raising capital, the markets have been difficult to predict given COVID and now the downturn the markets are currently seeing. We believe our focus on alignment with the consumer, delivered by our innovative business model, has the potential to create significant long-term value for shareholders. Our extensive investment in communicating this message and developing our international network of renowned private, family office and institutional investors has enabled us to secure this extension at the same terms as our Series C, which is a testament to their belief  in our significant market opportunity, and our ability to execute against it.” 

The funding announcement follows the recent government news that BNPL firms are set to face regulation in the UK as HM Treasury sets out a framework for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to review the sector. Zilch worked with the  FCA as part of the Sandbox Programme from inception and was one of the UK’s first BNPL providers to be granted an FCA licence to perform regulated Consumer Credit activities. It is already fully compliant with the framework set out by HMT.   Earlier this year in the UK, Zilch partnered with world-leading credit reporting agency, Experian, to pioneer reciprocal reporting of payment plans to the credit reporting agency’s (CRA’s) data set. This ensures consumers’ financial health by providing greater transparency and accuracy while rewarding customers for their responsible behaviour. Alongside this, Zilch already utilises a blend of Open Banking technology combined with soft credit checks and its own proprietary behavioural data each time a customer spends.

This allows Zilch to develop a real-time view of a customer’s financial health, creating a 360-degree picture of a customer’s affordability profile and providing accurate, individualised spending recommendations.
Zilch today has an impressive list of global investors, which includes Ventura Capital, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Gauss Ventures, DMG Ventures, M&F Fund and Limited Ventures. Zilch works with some of the most advanced fintech enablers including Amazon Web Services, Cross River, Checkout.com, Cashflows, Experian, GPS, Monavate, Marqeta, Mastercard, Onfido, Provenir and Socure.
 For more information, visit: https://www.payzilch.com/