Zilch's ad revenue hits £11m, 7.5% of total, as IPO talk builds

Advertising generated just £11m of Zilch's £147.5m revenue in FY26 — 7.5% of the total — but it's the fastest-moving piece of the buy-now-pay-later firm's pitch to brands, and it's built on affiliate commissions. That's the number performance marketers should watch as the company positions itself for a possible flotation in the second half of 2027.

The company's annual results, published for the year to 31 March 2026, show group revenue up 36% to £147.5m. Credit revenue did most of the lifting, growing 47% to £108.4m — nearly three quarters of the total. Advertising revenue rose 12% to £11m, which the report attributes to "new affiliate partnerships". Revenue from paid features such as membership tiers more than doubled to £6.9m, with transaction fees making up most of the remainder.

How the ad model actually works

Zilch describes its advertising business as an "ad-subsidised payments network". The mechanics matter for anyone running CPA or rev-share programs. Merchants pay performance-based affiliate commissions on sales made through Zilch, plus separate fees for premium placement — a hybrid of commission and media spend.

The inventory Zilch sells is access to 970,000 yearly active customers who spend an average of £2,500 each. That's roughly £2.4bn of annual purchasing flowing through the network, per the company's own figures. Its Intelligent Commerce platform, launched only in October 2025, promises retailers visibility of "100%" of the sales journey, online and in store. Zilch says brands in its beta saw return on ad spend rise by 20 to 50%. Those are vendor assertions — company figures with no published method — so treat them as claims to test, not measured results.

Where the affiliate budget conversation gets crowded

Zilch doesn't stay inside its own app. In July it partnered with Rezolve Ai's Reward, the card-linked offers business that styles itself a Finance Media Network, to bring more UK retailers onto Intelligent Commerce. For a retailer, that puts Zilch's subsidised credit in the same budget conversation as cashback, card-linked offers and loyalty partners — all channels paid to influence the same purchase.

Attribution is where these channels collide. Traditional affiliates and cashback sites typically earn commission on tracked, last-click sales. Zilch also earns affiliate commissions, but its advertising pitch extends to measuring purchases across its entire payments network. Brands testing it should ask how a sale gets credited when a shopper also clicked through a cashback site, and whether Zilch's numbers can be reconciled against their own data. That's precisely the point impact.com's San Sareen made in arguing against relying on last click — if two channels both claim the same transaction, someone's EPC is inflated.

Debt facilities and a widening loss

The week's harder financial news centred on lending. On 11 November, Zilch said Deutsche Bank had led £165m of additional securitisation and corporate debt facilities, taking total facilities to £395m and its lending capacity to £6bn a year, Financial IT reported. "Access to efficient funding is a key parameter for success," chief executive Philip Belamant said.

The growth isn't cost-free. Statutory pre-tax losses nearly tripled to £35.9m in FY26 as credit impairments rose 66%. Zilch says it has since posted two quarters of adjusted profit — a company claim, and one investors at a listing would scrutinise alongside the statutory picture.

What an IPO means for affiliate partners

City AM reported on 9 November that Zilch is considering a flotation as early as the second half of 2027, with London the favoured venue, other markets still open and no banks yet appointed. "We know we need to hit our numbers," Belamant told the paper.

For affiliate managers, the practical read is this: lending generates most of Zilch's revenue today, but affiliate partnerships are where its advertising growth is coming from. If the 2027 listing goes ahead, that 7.5% advertising slice will draw far closer attention from investors — and the commission terms, attribution claims and ROAS case studies behind it will face questions no marketing deck can dodge. Programs negotiating placement into Zilch's network now should lock in reporting access while their leverage is highest.