By Lars Mucklejohn London fintech Zilch is ramping up its use of artificial intelligence to boost competition with rival buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) providers like Klarna and help it achieve profitability ahead of a planned IPO next year. The payments firm, founded in 2018 and valued at $2bn (£1.65bn) last October, has enjoyed bumper growth in recent years. Its financial year to March 2023 saw revenue nearly triple to £30m and gross profit increase more than fivefold to £17.4m. Now it has its sights firmly set on bottom-line monthly profitability. “We think that we’ll be talking about that soon,”…