Image credits: Zilch
Zilch, a London-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform, announced on Thursday that it has secured an additional $50M (approximately €48M) in an Series C extended round of funding.
Last year, the fintech company raised $110M (approximately €106M) in a Series C round in November at more than a $2B (approximately €1.92B) valuation. The latest funding takes the total raised in Series C to $160M (approximately €154M).
Has the Dutch workforce mastered all digital skills? Find out
Fund utilisation
The UK company will use the funds to accelerate business growth, particularly in the US, where it has opened a new office in Miami and has 150,000 pre-registered customers.
The funding announcement follows the recent 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 was an integral part of the Sandbox programme from inception, during which it worked closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and was one of the UK’s first BNPL providers to be granted an FCA licence to perform regulated Consumer Credit activities.
Philip Belamant, CEO & Co-Founder, says, “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.”
Zilch: What you need to know
Founded by Philip Belamant, Zilch is on a mission to revolutionise the credit payment industry with innovative products for customers to manage cash flow responsibly.
Zilch is the first over-the-top (OTT) BNPL product that allows its customers to shop wherever Mastercard is accepted and spread their payment over six weeks for zero interest and zero fees.
Its proprietary data-driven credit assessment technology focuses on optimising its users’ cash flow, preventing over-indebtedness. Leveraging open banking technology and soft credit checks, Zilch uses its real-time view and understanding of customers’ affordability to give accurate recommendations of what they can afford to borrow.
Zilch says that customers have already benefited from over $55M in savings and rewards by using its platform instead of high-cost credit or debit cards that offer zero rewards.
Currently, the UK fintech company has over 250 employees based across its offices in London, Miami, and Krakow.
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.
Co-founder Sean O’Connor says “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.
Catch our interview with Paul Down, Head of Sales at Intigriti.
