0TO9, a pan-European fintech venture builder and investor, has emerged from stealth with the aim of starting and scaling 1,000 profitable fintechs by 2045.
Its mission is to help entrepreneurs navigate barriers to market entry, including complex regulations, high capital requirements, and lengthy licensing processes.
0TO9 provides legal, compliance, talent, technical, and funding infrastructure to enable licensed financial companies to launch in months rather than years.
Founder Oliver Hildebrandt, a serial entrepreneur who sold his first fintech at 20 and has since founded four more, including the AI-powered financing platform Gilion (€40M total equity raised) and the consumer credit platform Plus 1 (with 100% YoY growth), leads a team of experienced fintech professionals.
CEO Tord Topsholm has headed four banks and overseen successful exits including KKR; Partner and CEO Germany Jessica Holzbach is a two-time fintech founder and was the youngest supervisory board member in German banking history; Partner and CMO Siduri Poli co-founded startup factory Changers Hub and sits on the board of state-owned VC Saminvest.
Henrik Landgren, ex-Spotify VP Analytics and ex-EQT Ventures Partner, serves on the board.
0TO9 is headquartered in Stockholm, with offices in Berlin, and operations in Finland and Norway.
Nearly three-quarters of fintech startups fail within three years due to avoidable regulatory and compliance issues, according to Hare Strategy Group.
Hildebrandt’s experience building Plus 1 showed how complex regulatory frameworks and high capital demands can pressure founders, while investors expect rapid growth.
Research from Carta indicates early-stage startups often make cost-cutting decisions, including layoffs, to extend capital runway, prioritising profitability over growth to meet investor expectations.
Hildebrandt designed 0TO9 to address this by providing early-stage fintechs with capital until profitability, access to deposit funding, compliance and legal support, brand development, technology infrastructure, and guidance on entering the European market.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by user850788 via Freepik
