Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) make up the majority of Europe’s economy, yet they often find it harder than large corporations to access working capital because their risk profiles are difficult to assess quickly and objectively. Czech data and AI fintech Flowpay has built an embedded finance infrastructure designed to give these enterprises access to the funding they need to grow. Its growth has now earned Flowpay the top spot in the Sifted 100: DACH & CEE Leaderboard, making it the fastest-growing company among 100 businesses assessed across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past two years, Flowpay achieved an average annual revenue growth rate (CAGR) of 816.31%.

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“Small and Medium-sized Enterprises often don’t have a problem with the business itself. The challenge is how quickly and objectively they can access the capital they need to grow. We base the process on data from their actual operations, which allows us to assess both risk and growth potential within minutes and provide funding exactly when the business needs it, for example ahead of a seasonal stock purchase. We see our position in the Sifted 100 as confirmation that this approach has enormous potential to scale across Europe,” says William Jalloul, founder and CEO of Flowpay.

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Access to fast financing has long been a challenge for smaller businesses because traditional credit assessments rely on financial statements and balance sheets that can be weeks or months out of date. Instead, Flowpay connects its system directly to the tools a business already uses, such as its point-of-sale system, e-commerce platform or accounting software. It can then analyse transaction history, sales frequency and customer behaviour in real time. Business owners do not need to submit paper financial statements and can receive a financing decision within minutes rather than weeks.

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The system assesses a company’s credit risk and growth potential within minutes and provides capital when the business actually needs it, for example ahead of its peak season or during an unexpected cash flow shortfall. Financing is integrated directly into the platforms businesses already use, allowing them to apply without changing the way they work. This model, known as embedded lending, reduces the time between application and funding to a minimum.

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Companies must meet strict criteria to qualify for the Sifted 100. They must be private and independent, generate the majority of their revenue from proprietary technology and report revenue of more than €500,000 in the latest financial year, supported by signed financial documentation. Analysts at British technology publication Sifted, which is backed by the publisher of the Financial Times, then rank companies according to their two-year revenue growth across the three most recent financial periods. Flowpay ranked ahead of the other 99 companies from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Central and Eastern Europe to take first place.

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The Sifted 100 ranking follows a series of previous recognitions for Flowpay in regional technology competitions. Earlier this year, the company was named LendTech of the Year at the Europe FinTech Awards 2026 in London, where an international expert jury selected Flowpay as the winner from more than 150 European companies shortlisted for the awards. In 2025, Flowpay also won the AI Value Driver category at Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Central Europe, organised by Deloitte in collaboration with Google Cloud, recognising the company’s practical use of artificial intelligence across its business processes. In the same edition, Flowpay was also named an Impact Star for its social impact in supporting access to finance for SMEs.

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“The Sifted 100 covers companies across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the whole of Central and Eastern Europe, so taking the number one spot is a strong confirmation that the model we built in Prague can compete with companies from the region’s largest technology hubs. We want to keep demonstrating how data and AI can give SMEs access to capital that today remains slow or difficult for them to obtain,” adds William Jalloul.

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