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Challenge
Zilch set an aggressive target: release a fully compliant digital wallet & checkout within four months and validate a new buy now pay later (BNPL) model for responsible credit.
The constraints were real.
- A regulated UK fintech environment
- Zero tolerance for latency
- Strict PCI DSS and FCA requirements
- Multiple third-party systems with incomplete documentation
- Pressure to prove the model fast for future investment rounds
Zilch needed a team that understood regulated financial products as well as it understood speed.
Innovify joined as the sole product and technology partner and led product development from day zero.
Client Review
Innovify helped Zilch bring a fully compliant digital wallet to market. PCI-DSS compliance. FCA approval. Complete backend infrastructure. Every critical requirement was delivered as part of a scalable platform designed for growth.
With the foundations in place, Zilch was positioned to move from build to launch with confidence.
"Innovify helped us navigate the complexity of building a regulated financial product and brought together everything needed for launch in one delivery programme."
Key Objectives
- Launch a working digital wallet MVP in four months
- Guarantee full regulatory compliance
- Deliver consistently low-latency transactions under 250 ms
- Build a scalable, cloud-native architecture ready for rapid growth
- Establish microservices-based infrastructure for fast scaling
Solution
Innovify mobilised a dedicated product engineering squad that worked shoulder to shoulder with Zilch’s founders from the earliest product workshops.
We led the discovery and scoped the MVP to meet the core business objectives. We defined the overall technology architecture and built the entire system for long-term scale, beyond launch.
Architecture for scale
We implemented a serverless microservices framework on AWS to ensure zero downtime, rapid iteration and elastic scalability. CI/CD pipelines enabled continuous deployment without disrupting live users.
Performance optimisation
To achieve sub-250 ms latency, we fine-tuned data pipelines, optimised transaction workflows and built a low-latency event system capable of handling high-volume processing.
Compliance by design
We embedded PCI DSS and FCA requirements into every layer of the build. This ensured the product remained secure and audit-ready from MVP to market launch.
Complex integrations
APIs such as GPS, Xero and Cash Flows came with fragmented or incomplete documentation. Innovify engineered custom integration layers, stress-tested workflows and worked directly with third-party teams to ensure reliable interoperability.
Innovify carried the product, UX and engineering workload so the founding team could focus on growth, fundraising and customer acquisition.
Results
Within four months, Innovify delivered a production-ready digital wallet that met the performance and regulatory benchmarks set for the launch.
The platform achieved:
- A production-ready wallet built to PCI DSS and FCA requirements, supporting Zilch’s PCI DSS certification and FCA approval
- Real-world transactions processed in under 250 ms
- Integration of the essential third-party APIs
- A cloud-native, microservices-based serverless architecture designed for on-demand scaling
More importantly:
The MVP Innovify built with Zilch became the foundation of the product Zilch took to market and scaled.
Innovify builds regulated digital wallets and embedded finance products for fintechs and established financial brands. Explore our embedded finance and digital wallet work, or talk to our team about your own build.
