Zilch favours London for a possible flotation, valuation unclear

Zilch, the London-headquartered payments and credit app, is reported to favour London for a possible stock market flotation, according to City AM, which cited unnamed insiders in a report published on 30 September 2026. The report said a listing could come in the second half of 2027 or early 2028, that discussions with investment banks were expected to begin in the following weeks, and that New York and European venues remain under consideration. No prospectus, intention-to-float announcement, banking mandate or formal venue decision had been identified as of 3 October 2026.

That distinction matters. A reported preference from unnamed sources is not a company announcement, and an indicative multi-year window is not a committed timetable. For the London Stock Exchange and the wider UK listings market, which has recorded between nine and 19 commercial-company IPOs a year since 2022, a Zilch flotation would be an early test of whether reforms meant to revive public markets can draw a fast-growing UK fintech towards London rather than New York or a European exchange. Readers should treat every element of this story — venue, date and price — as unresolved until Zilch, its advisers or the relevant exchange say otherwise.

What's reported, and what isn't

City AM's report links Zilch's possible London preference to earlier comments. In October 2025, the same publication reported chief executive Philip Belamant describing a London listing as attractive, again without committing to a venue. Sky News reported in July 2025 that Zilch was expanding ahead of an eventual stock-market debut, and that London, New York and other exchanges were competing for it. PYMNTS reported in March 2024 that Zilch was then considering a 2025 IPO and had held talks involving Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, with no venue chosen. That 2025 timetable did not materialise, and the window has since moved to 2027 or 2028 — a reminder that preliminary IPO plans can shift or stall.

A second point of confusion concerns valuation. City AM's framing of a "$2bn listing" could be read as either a target flotation value or the amount Zilch hopes to raise. The report's own detail says any IPO valuation is yet to be determined, and that the $2bn figure traces back to Zilch's November 2025 private funding round. Belamant told City AM at the time that Zilch had retained a $2bn valuation first reached in 2022. Zilch's own funding announcement, dated 13 November 2025, disclosed that the company had raised $176.7m through a mixture of debt and equity, led by KKCG with participation from BNF Capital and an expansion of a Deutsche Bank-led securitisation facility — but it did not disclose a valuation. The $2bn figure should be read as a reference point from that private transaction, not as a confirmed or expected public-market valuation.

Inside Zilch's audited numbers

Whatever the eventual venue, any public listing would be assessed against Zilch's trading record. The company's most recent audited accounts, for Zilch Holdings Limited for the year ended 31 March 2025, show substantial growth alongside a continued loss.

Zilch reported five million registered customers and 289 employees including contractors at 31 March 2025. The company describes itself as combining payments, advertising and credit, offering immediate payment with rewards alongside interest-free repayment over six weeks or up to three months. Its main operating company, Zilch Technology Limited, is regulated by the FCA, and Zilch says it was authorised for consumer credit in April 2020.

The accounts also show that the provision for credit losses rose to £27.378m in FY2025 from £12.688m in FY2024, an increase of 116% — a faster rate than revenue growth, though still consistent with a narrowing overall loss. Readers considering any future offering should note that Zilch extends consumer credit; missed repayments can affect a borrower's credit record, and the rise in credit-loss provisions set out above reflects that underlying exposure. These are the most recent audited figures available in the public record; City AM reported that newer results were expected within weeks of its late-September report, but they had not been published as of the research date for this article.

Before this venue reporting, Zilch's FY2025 annual report said the appointment of Mark Wilson to its board had helped pave the way for "a successful public listing" — evidence of general governance preparation for an eventual float, rather than confirmation of where or when.

London's fintech-IPO campaign

A Zilch flotation in London would arrive as the exchange tries to rebuild its reputation for sizeable, high-growth listings. FCA data published on 26 June 2026 recorded 14 UK commercial-company IPOs in 2025, up from 11 in 2024 and nine in 2023, but far short of the 43 recorded in 2021. Activity in the first quarter of 2026 was weaker still, with just one qualifying IPO, and the FCA said UK IPO activity "remained subdued" in that period "amid global political uncertainty", despite stronger issuance momentum in the second half of 2025. The regulator also recorded 50 issuers delisting equity securities in 2025, against 26 new commercial companies admitted to the Official List that year — a broader measure than IPOs that includes some technical listings. The FCA has separately noted that UK-listed company numbers have fallen by around 40% from their 2008 peak, and that the UK accounted for only 5% of global IPOs between 2015 and 2020.

Against that backdrop, regulators have moved to change the rules. The FCA's reformed UK listing regime took effect on 29 July 2024, introducing a simplified listing structure, streamlined eligibility requirements and more flexibility over enhanced voting rights. A further overhaul, the UK's new public-offers and admissions-to-trading regime, took effect on 19 January 2026; the FCA says it is intended to make capital raising easier and reduce the cost of admission to trading. The FCA has acknowledged that these reforms permit greater risk for investors and that regulatory design is only one factor among several that companies weigh when choosing where to list.

Buy now, pay later comes under regulation

Any investor assessing Zilch would also look at the regulatory status of its core product. Deferred Payment Credit — the FCA's term for what is commonly called buy now, pay later — came under FCA regulation on 15 July 2026, following confirmation from HM Treasury that the regime had come into force on that date. Under the new rules, third-party lenders entering covered agreements must hold the relevant FCA authorisation or temporary permission, and must comply with requirements covering customer information, affordability assessment, support for borrowers in financial difficulty, and access to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Zilch's annual report states that its main operating company was already authorised for consumer credit from April 2020, which predates this specific regime. The precise effect of the new Deferred Payment Credit rules on Zilch's compliance costs or product economics is not established in the available sources, and this article does not attempt to estimate it.

London versus New York and Europe

City AM's report frames London as the favoured, not the fixed, option, with New York and unspecified European venues still under active consideration. The appeal of London for a UK-headquartered company with five million registered customers is evident from the reforms above, and from the symbolic value a prominent fintech listing would carry for a market trying to demonstrate recovery after years of weak IPO numbers and rising delistings. Set against that is the fact that New York and unspecified European venues remain live alternatives, with no particular European exchange named in current reporting. Which of these considerations will prove decisive, and when, is not something the current sources allow this article to predict.

What a flotation would not resolve

Even if Zilch proceeds, prospective investors would face a company that posted a net loss in its most recent audited year, that has seen a sharp rise in credit-loss provisions, and that offers deferred payment credit of a kind that only entered FCA regulation, for covered third-party-lender agreements, on 15 July 2026. A public listing would not, by itself, change these facts; it would expose them to wider scrutiny through whatever prospectus and ongoing disclosure obligations apply under the UK regime current at the time. None of the figures in this article should be read as a signal of likely investment performance, and nothing in Zilch's past private valuation guarantees any particular public market valuation.

What to watch next

The next verifiable developments would be a named banking mandate, a direct statement from Zilch confirming venue or timetable, published FY2026 accounts, a formal intention-to-float announcement, or an FCA-approved prospectus once the public-offers regime applies to any transaction. Official detail on UK listing requirements is published by the FCA, and on Deferred Payment Credit regulation by the FCA and HM Treasury. Until one of those milestones appears, London's status as Zilch's "favoured" venue remains exactly that: a reported preference, not a decision.