ZILCH

Philip Belamant grew up around payments. His father Serge built Net1, a big South African payments company.

In 2018 the two teamed up with Sean O'Connor to launch Zilch. The twist was going card-first.

Instead of bolting onto one retailer's checkout, Zilch gave shoppers a Mastercard they could use anywhere, which let it scale far faster than rivals.

Zilch runs a double revenue model. It takes a slice of the card transaction fee when you spend.

It also charges merchants to advertise offers inside the app. Those two streams mean the shopper pays no interest and no late fees.

Merchants foot the bill twice, through ads and commission.

The core product lets you pay a quarter upfront and the rest over six weeks, interest-free. It runs on a Mastercard-linked card, so it works online and in stores.

On top sits the ad-driven Intelligent Commerce business and the coming Zilch Pay one-click checkout.

Card-anywhere was the wedge. Then Zilch pushed into the United States and leaned into advertising, selling merchants real-time commerce data it calls Intelligent Commerce.

By late 2025 it counted more than 5 million customers and over 5 billion pounds in processed spending. A one-click checkout product, Zilch Pay, is due in early 2026.

Regulation hangs over the whole BNPL sector. The UK is tightening rules, and Zilch has operated under FCA oversight since 2020.

Profitability was the other worry. The company says it cleared that bar in September 2024, but it still competes head-on with Klarna, Clearpay, and PayPal.

Zilch raised from Gauss Ventures, Ventura Capital, and the M and F Fund on the equity side. Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank provided debt facilities.

Later backers include Karel Komarek's KKCG group and BNF Capital. MoneySuperMarket co-founder Simon Nixon came in as an early angel.