Zeller, Australia’s fastest-growing fintech, has expanded into the United Kingdom, bringing its integrated payment and financial services platform to the country’s 5.7 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The UK launch marks the company’s first global expansion outside of Australia, where it already supports more than 100,000 businesses, including major brands like Domino’s Pizza and airport travel retailer SSP. The fintech, which achieved unicorn status following an A$100 million Series B funding round in 2022, is specifically targeting the high operational costs and outdated technology that continue to plague British merchants.
The £22.7billion friction problem
Zeller’s arrival coincides with new research highlighting the severe financial impact of inadequate payment systems. According to a study conducted by Foresight Factory and commissioned by Zeller, 1 in 2 UK customers abandon a purchase due to checkout friction caused by legacy payment technology. This consumer frustration places over £22.7billion in payments at risk every year.
Ben Pfisterer, co-Founder and CEO of Zeller, noted the stark disparity between the UK’s advanced fintech reputation and the daily reality for its local merchants.
“The UK is one of the world’s most advanced fintech markets and home to millions of small businesses that are vital to the economy,” Pfisterer stated. “But despite progress being made, payments is dominated by legacy providers offering unreliable, outdated, and costly payments hardware, paired with lengthy and time-consuming onboarding processes. UK merchants have been underserved for too long.”
An all-in-one financial ecosystem
To combat these challenges, Zeller offers a fully integrated financial ecosystem. Rather than forcing merchants to stitch together point-of-sale hardware, invoicing, business accounts, cards, and expense management across multiple disjointed platforms, Zeller brings all of these services into a single account.
The fintech has also completely streamlined the onboarding experience. Zeller’s fully digital account creation process takes business owners less than six minutes to complete. This stands in stark contrast to the legacy provider average of five days, with 50 per cent of those traditional providers still requiring an in-person appointment or a pen-and-paper application.
Slashing card processing fees
Beyond operational efficiency, Zeller is set to aggressively challenge competitors on price. The company projects it can save UK merchants up to 35 per cent annually on card processing fees compared to traditional banks and other fintechs. Across the entire UK market, this equates to potential savings of up to £5.2billion per year.
Early indications of merchant demand are already strong, with over 100 UK businesses signing up during the platform’s pre-launch testing phase.
Djihan Chagas, a merchant using the multi-award-winning Zeller Terminal at his London-based retail store Ferro Velho, praised the system’s integration.
“Good design is a big part of our brand, and Zeller Terminal reflects that,” Chagas said. “Combined with the flexibility to take payments in different ways, customise screens and receipts, it fits effortlessly into how we work.”