Daily Mail & General Trust PLC has teamed up with US banking giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) Group Inc to back buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) firm Zilch in a US$100mln (£80mln) funding round.
The cash injection from DMGT’s venture arm and Goldman’s asset management and private credit division take the total raised in Zilch’s Series B funding round to US$200mln around three months after it was announced in April, according to City AM.
Zilch, which offers users the ability to spend in over 5,000 stores using its BNPL card and pay off the balance in instalments, said it will use the funds to accelerate its expansion into the US market and continue growth in the UK, while the additional funding has also increased speculation of an impending IPO.
The startup also has the advantage of being the UK’s first BNPL market to be fully licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a difficult process given the strong regulatory scrutiny over the market.
Zilch’s popularity among investors is also a reflection of a wider boom in the BNPL market, with competitor Klarna raising a record US$1.63bn so far this year across two funding rounds that has made it the second most valuable fintech startup in the world with a valuation of US$45.6bn.
Shares in DMGT were up 0.4% at 1,084p in late morning trading on Friday, while Goldman was flat at US$373 in pre-market trading in New York.