Zilch Raises $175 Million to Expand Consumer Payment Platform

U.K.-based consumer payments platform Zilch has raised $175 million in debt and equity.

The new funding will go towards marketing efforts, product development and improvement to Zilch’s platform, as well as exploring merger and acquisition possibilities, the company said in a Thursday (Nov. 13) news release.

Launched in 2020, Zilch’s offerings include virtual and physical credit cards and buy now, pay later (BNPL) products, connecting users to retailers such as Amazon, eBay, and U.K.-based supermarket chain Tesco and letting them earn rewards.

“In just five years, we have rewired the relationship between brands and their customers, offering a different way to pay that brings mass benefits to both consumers and merchants.” said Philip Belamant, Zilch’s co-founder and CEO.

“This funding reflects strong confidence in our team, strategy and execution, enabling us to continue scaling at pace. Our newly launched products are already driving outsized growth, and with the support of a world-class group of debt and equity investors, we’re well positioned for the next phase of expansion,” he added.

The release notes that this new raise comes in the wake of two of the company’s biggest products, including Zilch Pay, announced last month and set to launch in the first half of 2026.

The company describes this as a “one-click button” making Zilch available for brands at checkout and connecting its app, card and digital wallet.

The company also unveiled Intelligent Commerce, an AI-powered platform that turns “live engagement data into real-time insights,” created in response to the rise of agentic commerce.

Zilch also recently launched a partnership with Plaid designed to integrate open banking into Zilch’s repayment system as the company seeks to offer more flexible ways to pay.

As covered here last month, Zilch customers can now use pay by bank for one one-off repayments, allowing them to repay directly from their bank account with a few taps.

Zilch is also employing Plaid’s Virtual Account capabilities to enhance its payment operations with things like “improved settlement tracking and built-in refund functionality,” the company said in a news release.

The company noted that the partnership is happening at a moment when nearly a third of adults in the U.K. — or around 15 million people — are using open banking. In July of this year, open banking services were used a record 2.04 billion times, according to Open Banking Limited.