A new fintech startup just stepped out of the shadows with a bold mission. Flow & Partners wants to free billions in trapped cash sitting inside Europe’s fastest growing companies. Backed by the ambitious venture builder 0TO9, the firm has named veteran banking executive Jessica Sparrfeldt as its CEO.
The story behind this launch is not just about money. It is about what happens when a seasoned corporate leader decides the startup world is worth the risk.
What Flow & Partners Actually Does
8 Flow & Partners offers working capital solutions designed for confident growth. The company provides European growth businesses with access to cash flow based financing and factoring solutions, helping unlock capital tied up in receivables, inventory and payables.
In simple terms, companies complete deals every day but often wait months to actually receive the money. Flow & Partners steps in to bridge that gap.
The firm finances transactions of up to €50 million and currently operates in four markets: Sweden, Norway, Poland and Germany. Spain and Italy are planned for later this year, with 21 European markets on the longer term roadmap.
31 One early client is Onrail, a Norwegian railway company running freight train services connecting Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Åndalsnes. 31 Its trains replace thousands of lorries a year, generating roughly €34 million in annual revenue. Additional customers span infrastructure, industry and city development sectors.
Flow & Partners CEO Jessica Sparrfeldt fintech working capital Europe
Europe’s Hidden Liquidity Problem
The numbers behind this launch tell a striking story.
Roughly €1.4 trillion in working capital sits unused across Europe’s 1,000 largest companies. That is cash locked inside businesses that could otherwise fund expansion, investment and acquisitions.
23 Half of invoices in the EU are paid either late or not at all, making the problem even worse. 23 While the existing EU Late Payment Directive stipulates a payment term of 30 days for B2B transactions, this can be extended to 60 days or more. 23 In some cases, payment terms extend to 120 days or more.
The cost is staggering. 23According to Intrum’s European Payment Report 2023, the cost to European businesses of chasing late payments equates to €275 billion.
Here is how this breaks down for European businesses:
| Problem | Impact |
|---|---|
| Trapped working capital | €1.4 trillion unused across Europe’s top 1,000 firms |
| Late payment cost | €275 billion per year in chasing overdue invoices |
| Average B2B payment period | 60+ days, sometimes exceeding 120 |
| Potential SME cash unlock | Over €100 billion per year if late payments ended |
25 Late payments represent a significant threat to the financial resilience of European SMEs, with wide-reaching implications. 24 SMEs are particularly affected, frequently suffering from late payments despite themselves being good payers, and are especially vulnerable to cash flow disruptions which can lead to layoffs and even bankruptcies.
The Banking Executive Who Chose a Startup
Jessica Sparrfeldt did not wake up one morning and decide to join a startup. She spent two decades in senior banking roles across Sweden’s biggest financial institutions, including Avida Finans AB and Northmill.
5 Most recently, she served as Chief Line of Business Ledger and Financing at PayEx, part of Swedbank.
The frustration built slowly. Sparrfeldt watched the same problem repeat itself across every institution. Capital was locked inside companies, and traditional banks relied too heavily on historical data to help unlock it.
“I kept seeing the same problem: there’s so much capital locked inside companies,” she explained. She realized a forward looking approach was needed, not backward looking credit models.
The turning point came during a lunch that almost never happened. Siduri Poli, Partner and CMO at 0TO9, heard Sparrfeldt’s name from nearly everyone in her network when asking about working capital expertise. Poli booked a lunch. Sparrfeldt cancelled. Then cancelled again. But Poli persisted.
By the end of that eventual meeting, the food had gone cold. They were too deep in conversation about solutions to notice.
“She challenged me: do you want to keep explaining the problem, or do you want to solve it?” Sparrfeldt recalled.
That question changed everything.
How 0TO9 Makes the Leap Possible
11 0TO9 launched out of stealth in September 2025 with an ambitious goal: to build 1,000 profitable fintechs by 2045. 14 Founded by serial entrepreneur Oliver Hildebrandt, who sold his first fintech company at age 20 and has since founded four more, 0TO9 operates as a different kind of venture builder. 11 Its key differentiator is licences. Hildebrandt shared that it took him a decade in one of his companies to secure a license, but at 0TO9, founders get it on day one. 20 The company provides entrepreneurs with capital, compliance, talent, technical and operational support needed to start and scale licensed financial companies in months rather than years. 0TO9 operates under European financial services licences, allowing its portfolio companies to launch regulated financial products immediately.
This is what made the leap possible for Sparrfeldt. Building a regulated financial product from scratch normally takes years. Compliance alone can drain a startup’s entire runway before reaching a single customer.
The 0TO9 portfolio already includes several businesses:
- Fuels Capital (financing for entrepreneurs, profitable after six months)
- NordKronan (real estate financing, profitable after six months)
- Flow & Partners (working capital solutions for SMEs)
- HUGO (AI powered savings assistant)
- Plus 1 (consumer lending, expanding into Germany)
14 Nearly three quarters of fintech startups fail within their first three years because of avoidable regulatory and compliance issues, according to consulting firm Hare Strategy Group. 0TO9 was built specifically to remove that barrier.
Why This Matters for Europe’s Future
The timing of this launch is no accident. Europe is in the middle of a major push to become more competitive globally.
46 The European Commission just presented EU Inc., a new single set of corporate rules that will be the same and apply across the EU, making it easier for businesses to start, operate and grow across the bloc. 44 At present, a European startup aiming to expand has to comply with potentially 27 different versions of company law, with a total of 60 different company forms.
0TO9’s vision aligns directly with this movement. Poli put it plainly: “We want companies to scale across Europe as one market, not 27 separate ones.”
“We’re not just building another financing company. We’re building a unified European liquidity layer, a single partner that can support companies operating across multiple countries.” Jessica Sparrfeldt, CEO, Flow & Partners
Sparrfeldt’s story also reveals something bigger about the shifting talent landscape in European fintech. Getting experienced executives to leave secure corporate roles for startups has always been one of the hardest challenges in the ecosystem. The usual barriers are real: financial risk, identity and practical life concerns.
But when platforms like 0TO9 reduce that risk through ready made licences, compliance infrastructure and operational support, the decision changes dramatically. Especially for leaders later in their careers who have both the expertise and the hunger to build something new.
Flow & Partners represents more than a single company launch. It represents a growing bet that Europe’s biggest financial problems can be solved by experienced operators who are given the right tools and the freedom to act. With €1.4 trillion in working capital waiting to be unlocked and millions of businesses struggling under the weight of late payments, the need is urgent. The question now is whether more banking leaders will follow Sparrfeldt’s lead and choose building over explaining. Tell us what you think in the comments below. Would you leave a stable career to join a fintech startup
