Swedish Fintech Plus1 Appoints Rasmus Rolén As Chief Executive Officer

The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for Plus1, a portfolio company of financial services venture builder and investor 0TO9, following its rebrand from Nstart last year.

Plus1 currently operates across Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway, with Rolén’s immediate focus set on exploring expansion into Germany, Poland, and Southern Europe.

Rasmus Rolén’s time at Klarna, one of Europe’s most successful tech companies shaped his understanding of modern credit. He led Klarna’s largest finance and analytics team before becoming Chief Executive Officer of Avarda. In 2024 Avarda merged with TF Bank with the combined entity rebranded as Avarda Bank.

As Chief Commercial Officer and a member of the Executive Management team, Rolén oversaw the credit card and e-commerce segments across the Nordics, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Italy.

Rolén’s priority is to scale Plus1 across Europe by bringing its debt consolidation model into new markets and expanding its customer base.

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His goal is to make sustainable debt consolidation accessible to millions of Europeans currently trapped in high-cost credit arrangements and experiencing financial distress.

Six-time fintech founder Oliver Hildebrandt created Plus1 to tackle what the company describes as “strutsekonomi” Swedish for “ostrich economy” a behaviour where households avoid facing their finances, delay difficult decisions, and allow fees and interest to accumulate over time.

Sweden ranks among the most heavily indebted consumer markets globally with household debt exceeding €460 billion (SEK 5 trillion), including around €93.5 billion (SEK 1 trillion) in non-mortgage debt. Around one-third of consumer credit customers received a debt collection notice in 2024, while invoice-based credit grew by 60% between 2020 and 2024 twice the rate of household consumption.

However, this issue is not unique to Sweden. Last year, the European Banking Authority identified rising consumer indebtedness as one of the three most significant risks facing EU consumers, highlighting the rapid growth of BNPL and short-term credit as key drivers. It is a challenge that has affected Europe for more than a decade and one that Plus1 is positioned to address at scale.

Rasmus Rolén CEO of Plus1, said: “After years of working within consumer credit, I’ve seen how quickly manageable debt can become a destructive spiral that people can’t escape. Oliver built Plus1 for the moments when life gets messy. There is a real market opportunity for products that put responsibility first. I’m joining to make resolving debt just as seamless as taking it on in the first place.”

Oliver Hildebrandt, Founder of Plus1 and 0TO9, comments: “Since founding Plus1 over a decade ago, my focus has been on tackling the root causes of financial instability, not treating the symptoms. With Plus1, we’re building a market around sustainable repayment and genuine support, and Rasmus is the right leader to scale that vision across Europe.”

About Plus1

Founded in 2015, Plus1 is a Swedish fintech that helps customers consolidate loans and credit into a single, smarter loan with lower costs and clearer financial control. The company reduces monthly repayments by an average of SEK 4,589 and is known for solving complex debt situations. Plus1 specialises in refinancing, negotiation and improving customers’ financial flexibility.