London-based buy now, pay later lender Zilch has extended its Serie B round by a further $110 million in debt and equity, with backing from Goldman Sachs and the venture capital arm of UK newspaper Daily Mail.
This brings the total raised by the startup to more than $200M, following an $80 million financing package secured in April.
Zilch opened in beta in 2019, looking to distinguish itself in the crowded BNPL arena by connecting directly with customers and using soft background credit checks performed by Credit Kudos via Open Banking to determine affordability.
The startup has since grown its London headcount to 150 to meet searing demand among consumers, recording 150,000 new sign-ups a month.
With competition in the UK BNPL sector becoming ever more heated, Zilch has set its sights on international expansion to US markets and pledged to hire a further 100 staff this year to meet growth goals.
Philip Belamant, founder and CEO, at Zilch, says: “As our customer numbers continue to grow, we’ve taken the decision to raise additional capital to service this phenomenal demand. As Zilch continues to scale at pace, we’re delighted that well-respected institutions such as Goldman Sachs and DMG Ventures share our vision of what credit should be in today’s world and how that can be delivered directly to customers in the most responsible way."