“Can a direct-to-consumer BNPL network — bypassing merchant checkout — become the primary consumer payments and financial OS by subsidising costs through advertising rather than interest charges?”
Founded in 2018, Zilch disrupted BNPL by going direct-to-consumer rather than embedding at merchant checkout — consumers receive a virtual card (powered by Marqeta) usable anywhere Mastercard/Visa is accepted. The company pioneered an ad-subsidised payments network (ASPN) model, monetising advertising to reduce consumer borrowing costs to zero. By 2024–2025 it evolved from a pure BNPL product into a broader consumer payments platform, adding open banking repayments (Plaid), AI-powered commerce intelligence, and a forthcoming Zilch Pay wallet — signalling ambition to become a full consumer financial OS rather than a single-product BNPL lender.
Zilch discloses Marqeta as its banking provider, with Cross River Bank as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Zilch does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Cross River Bank.
Zilch processes payments through Checkout.com.
Zilch's cards are issued through Marqeta.
Zilch connects to bank accounts through Plaid.
Zilch uses Checkout.com for FX and cross-border payouts.
Zilch uses Taktile for fraud prevention.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 8 layers in Zilch's stack: Payments / PSP (Checkout.com); Banking / BaaS (Marqeta); Card issuing (Marqeta); Lending (BNPL instalment (zero-interest, up to 3 months), Pay over 6 weeks and Pay over 3 months); Open banking (Plaid); Sponsor bank (Cross River Bank); FX & payouts (Checkout.com); Fraud (Taktile).
Zilch was founded by Philip Belamant, Serge Belamant and Sean O'Connor and is founded in 2018, headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
Zilch has raised ~$580M+ (debt + equity combined, estimated) in total (latest round: Later Stage VC / Debt, November 2025; valuation: $2B post-money (unchanged from prior equity raise)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Zilch and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.