London-based fintech Zilch gears up for US launch with acquisition of NepFin

Zilch, the London-based fintech scale-up, today announced the acquisition of NepFin, a technology-enabled direct lender offering flexible capital solutions.

The acquisition follows Zilch’s recent Series B extension which raised an additional $110m, bringing its total funding to more than $200m, that 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 & General Counsel in the US. Stemming from their experience at NepFin and Funding Circle, Periu and Meister bring tremendous industry knowledge in building out U.S. fintech lending businesses. While NepFin provides great technology in addition to a strong regulatory and operations infrastructure, 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 U.K.-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.”

“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 U.S. launch,” said Philip Belamant, CEO and Founder of Zilch. “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.”