LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zilch, the fintech payments innovator of the world’s first ad-subsidised payments network (ASPN), today announces the launch of Zilch Travel. This new partnership will make booking and paying for holidays easier and more rewarding.
Powered by lastminute.com, the European Travel-Tech leader in Dynamic Holiday Packages, this new white-label partnership will enhance Zilch customers' experience of seamlessly searching, booking and paying for holidays, hotels and flights in the Zilch app. Customers can earn up to 3% back in rewards on their travel bookings or can opt to spread the cost of their trip with interest-free payments over six weeks or three months - always with complete transparency and no hidden fees.
Travel is one of the largest household expenses, yet it's also a non-negotiable annual priority, and in 2024, it hit an all-time high. This surge has made travel one of the fastest growing categories for Zilch, with a remarkable 140% year-on-year growth as customers seek smarter, more flexible ways to fund their trips. Nearly half of families now book their travel plans 5 to 12 weeks before departure*, and Zilch Travel is perfectly positioned to meet this demand. By offering easy payment options to spread out the cost of large bookings and rewarding customers with perks they can use on their holidays, Zilch Travel ensures that planning the perfect getaway is both simple and rewarding.
Alessandro Petazzi, CEO of lastminute.com, said: “By investing in flexible financial solutions and leveraging our technology to enhance customers' travel experience, we can unlock a world of possibilities for holidaymakers. We’re delighted to partner with one of the UK’s leading fintech companies by powering their new Zilch Travel service.
This new offering will seamlessly combine lastminute.com’s cutting-edge platform for booking holiday packages, hotels, and flights with Zilch’s fantastic, flexible payment options. This will allow consumers to earn cashback rewards or spread the cost of their holiday purchases interest-free.
With more than twenty-five years of experience, we know that holidays are the one ring-fenced purchase everyone makes annually, this is why we will continue to invest in FinTech solutions and flexible payment options to enhance personalisation and empower people to pay on their terms.”
Philip Belamant, CEO and Co-Founder of Zilch, said: “Partnering with lastminute.com, a pioneer in online travel, marks an exciting step forward as we launch Zilch Travel. In 2025, travel is no longer a luxury - it’s a professional and family priority, with 84% of UK consumers exploring destinations at home or abroad, they’re spending over £72 billion on overseas holidays alone in 2023. Zilch Travel is designed to give our customers what they’ve been asking for, three years into an unprecedented cost-of-living squeeze: the convenience, security, and flexibility to design and pay for their trips seamlessly within the regulated app they trust to manage their money.
This launch is another way we’re transforming everyday spending and broadening Zilch’s share of wallet, following the success of our Pay over 3 Months product for bigger-ticket purchases, which has already helped accelerate total sales on the Zilch platform to over £3.6 billion since launch and double our revenues for three years running.”
*lastminute.com Travel Horizons family report
About Zilch
Zilch’s vision is to eliminate the high cost of consumer credit. For good.
Zilch is a multi-award-winning pioneer of the world’s first direct-to-consumer, ad-subsidised payments network (ASPN). Leveraging its unique, vertically integrated, first-party-data business model, Zilch sets itself apart from the incumbent fintech industry with a profitable global revenue source, bringing unrivalled value to customers and marketers alike. Today Zilch is revolutionising the $50 trillion advertising and payments industries by merging the very best of debit, credit, and savings.
Co-founded by Philip Belamant, Sean O’Connor, and Serge Belamant, Zilch provides millions of customers the freedom to go anywhere in the world (online or offline) and, when they pay, earn up to 5% cashback & rewards on debit payments (‘Pay Now’) or spread interest-free credit repayments over six weeks or three months. In the process, Zilch helps customers build their credit profiles with the major credit agencies. Within 44 months of launch in 2020, Zilch amassed more than 4 million registered customers.
- As of January 2025, Zilch had surpassed 4.5 million customers, £145m revenue run rate and exceeded £3.6 billion in total sales to date for retailers. In October 2024, Zilch announced it had increased its Securitised debt deal to £150m - with a total facility of £400m - led by Deutsche Bank and two of the world’s biggest funds, positioning Zilch to drive £10 billion in annual commerce for retailers.
- In September 2024, four years after its public launch, Zilch announced that in July 2024 it had achieved first-month profitability in record time while surpassing £100 million of revenue run rate, keeping pace with European fintech giants like Revolut, Starling Bank, and Monzo.
- In 2023, Zilch launched its proprietary ASPN service, which allows merchants worldwide instant connection with Zilch’s first-party-data, closed-loop network of millions of high-intent customers, while offering customers personalised savings, deals, and discounts codified to their habitual daily spend.
- In January 2023, Zilch struck a ground-breaking reporting agreement with the UK’s prime credit reference agencies, transforming the UK lending ecosystem by enabling all adults to build their credit records using interest-free credit rather than high-cost revolving credit products.
- Since April 2020, Zilch has been regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), obtaining a consumer credit licence through the Regulatory Sandbox Programme.
Driven by innovation and a commitment to excellence, Zilch is setting new benchmarks in the industry to create a more inclusive and efficient ecosystem, empowering millions of users to budget and manage their financial lives more effectively and transparently.
For more information, visit: www.zilch.com.
About lastminute.com
lastminute.com is the European Travel-Tech leader in Dynamic Holiday Packages. Our mission is to simplify, personalise, and enhance customers' travel experience by leveraging our technology. Thanks to the iconic brand lastminute.com and a rich portfolio of vertical brands, we meet the most diverse needs of travellers across the entire holiday experience.
As one of the few fully licensed European tour operators, we offer unlimited real-time travel combinations thanks to our proprietary Dynamic Holiday Packaging engine, providing additional customer protection and exclusive deals. lastminute.com N.V. is a publicly traded company listed under the ticker symbol, LMN on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
