Zeal, a London-based payments technology company, announced on 9 September 2026 that it has raised $10 million in new funding, bringing its total raised to $14 million. The company builds software that connects physical payment terminals with loyalty programmes and customer insights. The announcement comes as Zeal prepares to activate its technology on more than four million card machines over the next 24 months.
Funding and Rollout
Zeal did not disclose the participants in this round. The fresh capital will support the activation of signed contracts with payment acquirers globally and deepen integrations across diverse payment environments. It will also expand the tools that merchants and payment providers use to understand their businesses and improve account performance.
The Offline Payments Challenge
Online commerce has built customer relationships around connected transactions, loyalty programmes and customer data platforms. In physical commerce, a purchase can pass through a payment terminal without becoming useful customer insight for the merchant or a clear account signal for the payment provider. Zeal attributes this gap to fragmentation across terminal manufacturers, operating environments, payment applications and acquiring platforms, each of which has its own integration requirements.
Configurable Loyalty for Merchants
Zeal brings loyalty features into supported payment-terminal journeys. Merchants can configure stamps or points, add optional phone-number capture, or connect an existing loyalty engine through a single product. These configurations are designed to fit different merchant programmes and payment setups without adding another standalone application at the counter.
Merchant Health and Partner Visibility
The same environment offers customer insight to merchants and gives acquirers, payment service providers and ISOs a clearer view of their merchant estate. A feature called Merchant Health highlights changes in transaction volume, terminal activity, payment declines and trading inactivity. These signals help teams investigate what has changed and decide where to focus account conversations.
Why Terminal Software Matters Now
Payment terminals are increasingly becoming software platforms rather than simple acceptance devices. Android-based terminal ecosystems can now support business applications alongside payments, creating a practical route to bring loyalty and customer insight into checkout. The commercial challenge is making these capabilities work across fragmented payment environments and delivering them through trusted acquirer relationships.
Distribution Through Acquirers
Zeal's distribution model works through payment acquirers and other payments partners. This approach creates a route to existing terminal estates while allowing each deployment to account for the provider's platform, the terminal environment and the merchant's requirements. The signed contracts establish the planned activation footprint, with implementation taking place over the next 24 months.
Leadership Comments
Co-founder and CEO Omar Ebeid said a card payment should be the start of a more useful customer relationship. "The hard part is connecting the fragmented infrastructure behind the counter," he added, noting that the signed acquirer contracts support the next stage of growth. Co-founder and CTO Belal Mohamed said the company's work is to connect terminal journeys, loyalty and merchant insight across different payment environments.
Earlier Backing and Recognition
Zeal's earlier backers include Saudi Arabia's Raed Ventures, Pinnacle Capital and CUR8 Capital. Raed Ventures' Raed III fund counts Saudi Venture Capital among its investors. The company was named Team of the Year at the UK FinTech Awards 2026, co-founder and CTO Belal Mohamed was named Innovator of the Year, and Zeal is part of the Scale Up by Endeavor programme.
Zeal expects its coverage to grow as it expands acquirer relationships, with further large enterprise announcements to follow. The company is positioned to bring customer experience and account relationships into the same conversation at checkout. With total funding of $14 million, Zeal is moving from signed agreements to activation and deeper integration across the fragmented payments ecosystem.