By Simon Hunt
Copyright cityam
Zilch has secured a fresh loan facility in signs the London fintech is opting for debt-fuelled over equity-led expansion.
The Victoria-based business has agreed the £30m facility with New York-based US Bank, according to documents filed with Companies House.
The agreement marks the largest financing deal the fintech has struck since its £150m debt facility from Deutche Bank last year, which comes on top of its £20m Series D funding in 2023.
The terms of the loan were not disclosed. Zilch declined to comment.
The agreement comes after the fintech raised its provisions for losses in the last year as demand for buy now, pay later services ballooned.
The London-headquartered firm raised provisions for credit losses – funds set aside to cover estimated losses from failed repayments – to £27.4m – a 116 per cent jump from £12.7m the year prior.
Credit losses relative to gross merchandise value, which is the percentage of a company’s total sales that it expects to lose from customers who don’t pay back their debt, edged up to 1.5 per cent from 1.2 per cent.
Zilch lands five million customers
But this came as registered customers topped five million with investment in customer acquisition rising 62 per cent to £9.8m. Gross Merchandise Value, which refers to total sales completed with Zilch, rose 73 per cent to £1.9bn.
Whilst net losses persisted, Zilch marked a 79 per cent reduction to £10.5m. Revenue for the year to March surged 93 per cent to £110.3m.
Zilch boss Philip Belamant last week met Microsoft chief Satya Nadella as he accompanied US President Donald Trump on his state visit to the UK.
Commenting on the meeting, Belamant said: “The state visit was a powerful showcase of how global partnerships will drive the next wave of growth.
“Our discussion on AI and commerce reinforced just how quickly the landscape is shifting, and how transformative companies like Zilch will be for consumers and businesses alike.”
He also teased “an announcement” the tech company would make about its “next phase of growth” at its next firmwide summit in October.
