On May 12-13 we’ll finally celebrate the in-person comeback of our annual EU-Startups Summit – connecting 1,600+ of Europe’s smartest founders, startup enthusiasts and investors! The 2-day event will provide great opportunities for networking, inspiration and learning, and we’ll also have an exciting pitch competition.
Today, we’re super excited to introduce our next speaker highlight: Zilch Co-Founder and CEO Philip Belamant!
At the end of 2021, Zilch was recognised as Europe’s fastest-growing unicorn, and further, CEO Philip Belamant was named British Entrepreneur of the Year. Now, we are bringing him to Barcelona to find out how he has scaled the fintech startup so successfully and rapidly. As a technologist, Philip’s superpower is building financial products that help change peoples’ lives and creating teams through targeting talent and common ambitions.
Founded in 2018, and launched in September 2020, the UK-based double unicorn is on a mission to revolutionize the global Payments and Buy Now Pay Later market. Zilch offers a ubiquitous payment product that is the first of its kind and utilizes a unique blend of CRA data, Open Banking data and its own proprietary behavioral data to make lending decisions; meaning they consistently monitor affordability, therefore responsibly only lend a user what they can afford to pay back, preventing problematic debt that’s caused by traditional high interest credit cards. Zilch allows customers to pay by debit (and receive cashback), or credit (BNPL) anywhere Mastercard is accepted both online and offline, with zero fees and zero interest.
The startup is growing at lightning speed and towards the end of 2021 Zilch picked up an additional $110 million to reach a valuation of $2 billion, as well as signing up 250k new customers per month. With expansion plans including an imminent launch in the US, the fintech company now has a team of over 230 (growing 10x in 2021!) spread across offices in London, Miami and Krakow.
Philip will join us for a fireside chat on the main stage to share his insights in growing strong and successful teams and the benefits this brings in scaling your startup. He will also talk about his entrepreneurial journey and tell us what worked and what didn’t work along the way. It sure will be inspiring!
The EU-Startups Summit is coming up quick, so make sure you secure your ticket now so you don’t miss out!
Some Impressions from past editions of the EU-Startups Summit:
Our Event Sponsors
Silicon Castles is a Tech Company Builder and Strategic Business Accelerator for technology, intellectual property and licensing businesses, located in Salzburg, Austria. The focus is on European Diamonds: technology startups with a unique business idea, scalable technology and outstanding intellectual property. Silicon Castles also organizes the Startup Executive Academy (SEA), an international Go-to-Market program for founders and executives of early-stage startups, taking place annually since 2017.
Unleashed, by the Purina Accelerator Lab, is the first and only accelerator programme in Europe dedicated exclusively to pet-tech. Their goal is to shape the future of pet care by supporting disruptive pet startups with technologies in advanced nutrition, sustainability, health and digital solutions that enrich the lives of pets and the people who love them. Over the last 2 years, Unleashed had accelerated 12 pet startups, facilitated >350 founders in the Unleashed community and welcomed over 1000 subscribers to the Unleashed pet tech newsletter.
Webex offers industry leading solutions in video conferencing, team collaboration, calling, contact centre and devices, and is trusted by 95% of the Fortune 500. With Webex, businesses can simplify communication, inspire innovation, and empower people to engage with each other anywhere on any device – giving businesses the ultimate edge. Because, when businesses enable employees to bring their best selves to work, everyone wins.
Freshworks is the leader of cloud-based customer and employee software including CRM, livechat, support, marketing automation, ITSM, & HRMS. Products are simple to set up, cost-effective & equipped with powerful automation. Through the Freshworks for Startups program the EU-Startups community can gain access to up to $10k credits on essential tools & products for your Startup. You also get access to Freshworks’ community of VCs, Investors, Mentors, & Customers. Claim your benefits here.
ACCIÓ – Catalonia Trade & Investment is the Catalan Government’s agency that works to attract foreign investment to Catalonia, promoting the region as attractive, innovative and competitive business location for startups. Check out their offerings and the Catalonia Startup Directory.
