Zilch taps GenAI and machine learning as it announces four million customers milestone in 44 months

Zilch, a BNPL specialist which is pitched as the world’s first ad subsidised payments network, has surpassed four million registered customers within 44 months of its launch.

"In less than four years, we’ve transformed how millions experience, engage and - most importantly - are rewarded with their daily payments, generating our customers over $500 million in savings and counting," says Philip Belamant, CEO and Co-founder at Zilch.

Zilch says that it currently adds over 100,000 new customers each month and now around 12% of the UK’s 33 million adult working population has an account with it.

Since its launch, the platform has created over $3 billion in commerce, or Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), for retailers, with over half of this GMV generated in the last 12 months.

Through Zilch’s services, any of the c.37 million retailers on Mastercard can offer contextualised deals and discounts on everyday purchases the customer makes, online or in-store via tap and pay.

Zilch’s features are subsidised by retailers’ advertising spend.

Following the recent enhancement of its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company continues to deploy AI across its business operations.

Leveraging AWS's machine learning (SageMaker) and GenAI (Bedrock) services, it lays claim to unlocking a deep lake of customer behavioural data.

Belamant says: "Our advanced use of GenAI and machine learning, backed by AWS’s robust cloud capabilities we’ve been building with for years, allows us to continuously innovate our flywheel of value at the sustainable operational pace and scale necessary to lead the revolution in payments - such as live, personalised affordability limits and buyer intent prediction."

2024, meanwhile, has seen Zilch introduce a new Pay over 3 Months zero interest regulated credit option, the co-founding of the Unicorn Council for UK FinTech (UCFT) and a partnership with Checkout.com as its global acquiring partner.