London-based FinTech scaleup Zilch is to launch in the US through the acquisition of NepFin.
The company is a technology-enabled direct lender offering flexible capital solutions and will give Zilch a base in Miami.
The acquisition follows buy now, pay later platform Zilch’s recent Series B extension which raised an additional £80 million and will help secure key licensing and regulatory capabilities, as well as expand its on the ground team in the US.
Albert Periu joins as CEO of the US and Thomas Meister joins as COO and General Counsel in the US. Stemming from their experience at NepFin and Funding Circle, Periu and Meister bring tremendous industry knowledge in building out US FinTech lending businesses.
NepFin has a California Finance Lenders License and compliance and regulatory framework. At the core of both businesses is a shared sense of responsibility for creating alternative methods for users to make purchases, without accruing debt or negatively impacting their credit.
“We’ve admired Zilch as a successful, fast growing innovator in the BNPL landscape for some time,” said Periu.
“This is the second time one of my companies has been acquired by a UK-based company and I’m thrilled at how their mission, values and culture aligned with ours.
“Our team is looking forward to leveraging our prior experience, creating roots in Miami and attracting talent to solidify Zilch as a FinTech leader in the U.S. as we head into the end of 2021 and beyond.”
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Philip Belamant, CEO and founder of Zilch, added: “We’ve been exploring growth options in the U.S. for some time and following the additional funding, now was the perfect time to take another meaningful step towards our US launch.
“Albert, Tom and their team have done tremendous work and adding them to our team enables us to hit the ground running with regulation top of mind. We’re highly confident that the team will mirror and build upon the success of Zilch as we bring the most scalable BNPL product to the US market.”
Zilch is one of the first fully regulated BNPL providers in the UK and allows its customers to shop wherever MasterCard is accepted and spread their payment over six weeks for zero interest and zero fees.
It says this lightweight, direct-to-consumer model allows Zilch to build direct relationships with its customers and scale significantly faster than its competitors as its deployment strategy is not restricted by borders or merchant acquisition and integration.
By the end of the year, Zilch looks to scale the team considerably within the US market. Areas of focus include targeting sales, marketing, compliance, customer service, and engineering.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.