0TO9, a pan-European fintech venture builder and investor backed by an all-star team of serial entrepreneuers, has emerged from stealth with the ambition to start and scale 1,000 profitable fintechs by 2045.
Founded in Stockholm with an office in Berlin, 0TO9 aims to provide entrepreneurs with the end-to-end legal, compliance, talent, technical, and funding infrastructure needed to start and scale licensed financial companies in months rather than years.
Nearly three-quarters of fintech startups fail within their first three years because of avoidable regulatory and compliance issues, according to a recent report by consulting firm Hare Strategy Group.
Five-time fintech founder Oliver Hildebrandt has assembled a team of fellow entrepreneurs to change this dynamic and deliver on a pledge to make Europe the fintech capital of the world, including CEO Tord Topsholm, a four-time CEO of major banks across the Nordics; partner and CEO Germany Jessica Holzbach, two-time exited fintech founder and the youngest supervisory board member in German banking history; and partner and CMO Siduri Poli, who co-founded startup factory Changers Hub and is a VC Saminvest board member.
Research from Carta suggests many early-stage startups are forced to make cost-cutting moves like layoffs to extend their capital runway, and prioritise profitability at the expense of growth to satisfy impatient investors.
Hildebrandt aims to resolve this tension between founders and investors by giving early-stage fintechs capital runway until they are profitable, access to deposit funding, full compliance and legal support, brand development, technology infrastructure, and advice on go-to-market strategies that help them break into the European market.
The venture builder already has a number of businesses within its portfolio, including Fuels Capital, which provides financing for entrepreneurs and investors, real-estate financier NordKronan, SME lender Flow & Partners, and Hugo, an AI-powered savings assistant.
Hildebrandt believes the prolonged process of starting and scaling fintechs is killing innovation.
"Building a financial product takes months, getting regulatory approval can take years, and before you know it, your capital runway is gone," he says. "It’s also heartbreaking to see how these market barriers are crushing people’s business dreams."
Jessica Holzbach adds: “Regulation isn’t the enemy; it protects consumers and maintains market integrity. The real challenge for fintech founders is that navigating Europe’s complex rules takes time, money, and energy. By centralising and assisting with this work for our portfolio founders, we let them focus on building to create a financial system that constantly improves, works for everyone and is built to last.”