Zilch: From Funding Rejection to an FCA Payments Licence

When Philip Belamant launched Zilch in 2020, a venture capital firm that was interested in bankrolling the firm reneged on their term sheet, meaning that he and his co-founders were forced to fund the business themselves.

Five years later, that same company has secured a payments services licence from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and has become a principal member of Visa, removing its reliance on third-party payment service providers and enabling the London-based firm to develop its own payment methods internally.

That licence grants Zilch direct access to regulatory roadmap discussions and early testing opportunities for new products, placing it at the centre of conversations about emerging payment technologies including stablecoins. 

The company, which reached quarterly profitability in July 2024, is now preparing to launch two products that Philip believes will transform the business.

Zilch has built its business around an ad-subsidised payments network that combines advertising revenue with payment processing, accumulating more than five million registered customers while offering users flexible payment options without relying solely on fees.

Product launches backed by regulatory infrastructure

Zilch Pay, scheduled for launch in the first half of 2026, will offer a one-click checkout experience designed to increase the company’s share of consumer spending.

Intelligent Commerce, an AI-powered platform that converts live engagement data into real-time insights for merchants, has already been identified as one of Zilch’s fastest-growing revenue sources according to statements made during the company’s recent US$176m funding round.

“Future-proof innovation, diversified revenue streams and a highly engaged customer base are all critical factors in our rapid growth,” explains Hugh Courtney, who is the firm's Chief Financial Officer.

Philip says the company has built its user base over five years without direct regulatory authorisation for payment services.

“In just five years, we’ve amassed over 5.3 million users and thousands of retail partners based on the strength of our proposition and product,” he says. “Now with our licence, we are even better positioned to develop this further and take advantage of new innovations as they mature to support the next phase of our rapid expansion.”

That growth has been supported by an expanded collaboration with AWS, which enables Zilch to process large volumes of data through AI and machine learning services. The company now has 500 million customer data sets, with 50% of its customer base connected through open banking.

Principal membership building on partnership with Visa

Zilch has also secured principal membership with Visa, an arrangement that enables direct collaboration on payment products and removes intermediary layers from their commercial partnership. The companies plan to explore opportunities in payments innovation, including technologies related to agentic commerce. “

We’re excited to continue supporting Zilch’s growth to bring new, cutting-edge solutions to the UK market,” says Mark Berry, Head of UK Clients at Visa. “Working together, we can deliver smarter ways to pay and be paid for people and businesses across the UK at scale.”

The principal membership builds on a multi-year partnership Zilch signed with Visa earlier in 2025 to launch its first physical payment card and gain access to Visa’s global merchant network of more than 150 million locations.

The partnership involved migrating Zilch’s transaction processing onto Visa’s infrastructure, which the company reports has improved processing efficiency and capital utilisation.

Mandy Lamb, Managing Director for UK and Ireland at Visa, said at the time of the physical card announcement: “It’s fantastic to welcome Zilch into the Visa ecosystem as we work together to deliver world-class products and solutions to help them scale.”

The principal membership grants Zilch direct access to Visa’s payment infrastructure and network, supporting the company’s plans to develop additional payment methods and expand its product portfolio beyond its current buy-now-pay-later offering.

Capital backing and commercial partnerships

The licensing follows a period where the company has raised over US$175m in debt and equity, led by KKCG with participation from BNF Capital. The funding round followed the launch of both Intelligent Commerce and Zilch Pay.

Karel Komarek Jr., CEO of KKCG US Advisory, said at the time: “Zilch’s impressive track record demonstrates that its approach to using technology to challenge the status quo and re-engineer the credit landscape delivers exceptional value for consumers and businesses.”

Zilch has also expanded its securitisation facility to £150m (US$204m) through Deutsche Bank, securing additional backing from two global credit funds. The expanded facility, announced in October 2024, will support £10bn in annual commerce through Zilch’s payment network, representing a £50m (US$68m) increase from its initial securitisation. 

From start-up to payments infrastructure

The combination of FCA authorisation, Visa principal membership and new funding has put Zilch in the perfect position for product expansion in 2026.

The company operates in a market where consumer payment platforms compete for transaction volume and merchant relationships, with differentiation coming from technology capabilities, regulatory status and network effects. 

The company’s model generates revenue from advertising and merchant commissions rather than relying solely on consumer fees, enabling it to offer interest-free credit and cashback rewards to users. The approach has built a user base that now represents approximately 15% of the UK's working adult population.

“It might sound obvious but the key to standing out is building a product that solves an existing real-world problem,” Philip said in a previous interview. “The fact that we were prudently creating it with regulators to ensure consumer protection and financial health existed from the start was very attractive to investors.”

The regulatory authorisation and Visa principal membership mark milestones in Zilch's evolution from consumer fintech to payments infrastructure provider, giving the company the authorisations and partnerships necessary to compete not just in buy-now-pay-later but across the broader payments landscape.

“This is a major step change for Zilch, bringing us firmly into the payments tent and giving us a true seat at the table to shape the ecosystem,” says Philip. “It opens the door to new opportunities, setting us up to move even faster, more efficiently and cost-effectively.”