Fintech unicorn Zilch lands £165m debt boost as listing beckons 

Zilch, the consumer payments app which has become one of Britain's most valuable fintechs, has secured a further £165m in borrowing firepower ahead of a prospective London flotation.

Sky News understands that Zilch, which has more than six million customers, will announce on Wednesday that it has agreed a deal led by Deutsche Bank to take its total securitisation and corporate debt facilities to almost £400m.

The agreement will boost its annual lending capability to £6bn, underlining Zilch's growing scale in the UK consumer lending market.

It comes as Zilch's co-founder and chief executive, Philip Belamant, progresses plans for a stock market flotation which could take place as soon as next year.

The company, which was valued in its last funding round at about $2bn, is in the process of selecting investment banks to help it go public.

Zilch recently secured a payments services licence from UK regulators and has been expanding its product portfolio with launches such as a longer-dated Pay Monthly product, launched in August, which allows customers to spread the cost of purchases over three, six or 12 months.

The company says it has saved customers more than £750m in fees and interest since it was founded in 2019.

Mr Belamant has been an active participant in talks with regulators and policymakers about reforms to London's listings regime aimed at making the City more attractive.

He has previously warned that Zilch could float outside the UK without meaningful efforts to incentivise retail investors to buy and hold British stocks.

"As we continue to grow at significant scale, having access to efficient funding is a key parameter for success," Mr Belamant said on Tuesday.

"These expanded facilities give us
greater capacity to support our customers where they need us, capturing more of the transactions that matter to customers day-to-day and providing the most rewarding ways to pay."

Zilch's investors include eBay, Goldman Sachs and Ventura Capital.

It offers customers a digital Visa debit card earning up to 5% of spending in rewards.

In the same app, customers can switch to a credit card, allowing them to spread repayments with zero interest over six weeks or three months, enabling them to build their credit record.

Zilch recently announced that it had recorded two consecutive quarters of adjusted pre-tax profit, strengthening its pitch to investors as it prepares to go public.

(c) Sky News 2026: Fintech unicorn Zilch lands £165m debt boost as listing beckons