#377: Al Periu of Zilch USA

Fintech One•On•One

When it comes to Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) consumers continue to spend. They love the product in all of its varieties. While those of us in the fintech space lament the huge drop in valuations with many of the BNPL leaders, consumers don't care. They just continue to use the product.

The BNPL pioneers all focused on the merchant model, where they do deals with large brands to offer their BNPL solutions to consumers. But there is more awareness today (thanks to Apple) of the direct to consumer model.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Al Periu, the CEO of Zilch USA. Zilch began in the UK and built a successful direct to consumer BNPL business very quickly and they have recently launched in the US.

In this podcast you will learn:

• How Al first connected with the Zilch team.
• Why his experience at Funding Circle was just what Zilch needed.
• A description of Zilch's UK business.
• How their product works in the US.
• Who their typical customer is.
• How they are trying to get to top of wallet with the consumer.
• Why they decided to go direct to consumer instead of focusing on merchants.
• Al's thoughts on Apple's entry into the BNPL space.
• What the BNPL pioneers provided to the market that helps Zilch.
• Details of their business model.
• Where the capital is coming from to fund the Pay-in-4 loans.
• How lawmakers should be thinking about BNPL.
• His thoughts about Klarna's recent down round.
• How Zilch was able to close a funding round at a flat valuation.
• Where BNPL is going to go over the next decade.
• Their plans for Zilch in the US.

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