UK-based buy now pay later startup Zilch raised $80m in a Series B funding round led by Gauss Ventures and M&F Fund, and is now valued at over $500m.
The company, which has raised over more than $120m over the last two years, intends to use the funds to launch in the US and continue to grow in the UK by investing further in product innovation and development. The Series B funding round will also be used to hiring an additional 100 staff.
Founded by Philip Belamant, Zilch is the first UK FCA regulated BNPL. It provides an over-the-top 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. It employs open banking solutions to build a personalised profile which helps extend the company’s services to more users.
The startup is fast approaching 500,000 customers as well as quadrupled its internal headcount to 80 over 2020, it said.
More recently, Zilch rolled out a ‘tap and pay-over-time’ feature that lets shoppers make in-store payments using their digital wallet with the cost spread over a six week period.
Commenting on the new round, Belamant said, “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.”
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