Zilch raises $10m to scale its unique BNPL Anywhere offering

LONDON, Sept. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The London-based fintech launched its BETA product in August 2019 and has been operating in stealth mode until now. Zilch has experienced a huge amount of traction in the young millennial and GenZ market and has been growing by more than 10,000 new customers a month.

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 6 weeks for zero interest and zero fees whenever they chose to buy from one of Zilch's 5,000+ retail affiliate partners. Unlike traditional BNPL products that require technical integration with merchants, Zilch's unique (patent pending) model does not require any integration and can thus instantly provide its users' accessibility everywhere. This gives Zilch the ability to scale rapidly.

Zilch ensures that customers never over-borrow by making use of Open Banking and AI to determine each customer's level of affordability and only funds low-value discretionary purchases. As a result, Zilch's customers rarely default and make use of the product as a cash flow management tool, which has proven to be of huge value during this COVID period.

Philip Belamant, Zilch founder and CEO, said, "Our unique over-the-top approach to BNPL has been built out of our strong knowledge for instalment cards in developing economies such as South Africa and South America amongst others. We combine the benefits of instalment and card products to offer the best way for our customers to pay overtime, anywhere. We believe that this generation should be able to responsibly have what they want when they want without being financially penalised for the privilege."

Zilch delivers its unique proposition to customers by leveraging its strategic partnership with Mastercard. Jason Lane, EVP, Market Development Europe at Mastercard commented: "Zilch is a flourishing fintech which aims to help shoppers manage their cashflows in a way that fits their timeline. At Mastercard, we continue to be the partner of choice for fintech across Europe as we strive to help scale innovative payment solutions that improve people's lives."

Zilch customers already enjoy the ability to pay over time anywhere they like online at big brands such as Amazon, eBay, Ali Express, Nike, and more but will soon be able to "tap and pay overtime" in-store too.

The London based fintech will make use of the proceeds from the funding round to accelerating the rollout of their product offering.

Commenting on the partnership, Joanne Dewar, Chief Executive Officer of Global Processing Services, said, "We have been working closely with Zilch to support their unique processing model, and are excited about their promising growth in the space. We look forward to working closely with them as they continue to scale."

About Zilch

Customers to pay overtime anywhere, instantly. While traditional BNPL products rely on various third parties, Zilch's unique patent-pending model doesn't require integrations and provides instant accessibility. While most credit cards have costly interest rates and late fees, Zilch is completely interest-free. The system works by using open banking and AI to calculate each customer's affordability, and Zilch only funds low-value discretionary purchases to protect shoppers against over-borrowing. Based in London, Zilch released its original BETA product in August 2019 and has experienced a huge level of traction since, particularly from young millennial and Gen Z markets. Now, over 15,000 new customers sign up for Zilch every month.

SOURCE Zilch