Klarna rival Zilch raises $30m to support its continued growth

Zilch, a London-based FinTech pegged to be the rival to Klarna, has closed an additional $30m in funding to close an oversubscribed pre-Series B in under three weeks.

Some of the investors of the round include Gauss Ventures and Money Supermarket co-founder Simon Nixon.

The buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution provider claims it is now in the prime spot to scale its operations, with customer registration numbers quadrupling in the past six months. Furthermore, its transaction volume has grown by over 100% month-on-month.

Zilch recently became the first UK-based BNPL FinTech to receive a consumer credit authorisation with the Financial Conduct Authority.

It only came out of stealth mode in September 2020, alongside the close of a $10m investment. After launching a beta test in August 2019, it operated in stealth mode but managed to attract 10,000 new customers per month, it claims.

Zilch CEO and founder Philip Belamant said, “We are excited and humbled by the response our product has received by both investors and customers alike. Customers recognise our dedication to focus on their needs.

“This is what sets us apart from other BNPL players in the market today and what continues to drive us in creating a new category – we want and can help people during these difficult times as our systems self-adapt to the socio economic conditions of the day and we feel privileged to be in a position to do so. We are just getting started and have some amazing new features coming soon, all of which track our customers’ way of life, financial constraints and aspirations!”

The FinTech offers a unique model that does not require merchants to integrate the technology with their infrastructure. Instead, the tools can be used instantly and anywhere.

Philip added, “Zilch ensures customers never over-borrow. We make use of Open Banking and AI along with soft credit checks to determine each customer’s level of affordability. 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 to our customers.”

Earlier in the year, Klarna became Europe’s most valuable FinTech company after a $650m funding round put its valuation at $10.5bn. The BNPL previously announced it is exploring the idea of going public over the next couple of years.

Copyright © 2020 FinTech Global

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