/Companies

Flow48

Founded 2022 · 45 employees on LinkedIn · 11 known investors

Find your way into Flow48

Sign up to see every warm intro you have to Flow48

  • Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to the Flow48 team. We find them for you
  • 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
  • Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone

Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.

Flow48 offers invoice financing and revenue-based financing that lets South African SMEs convert unpaid customer invoices into working capital, with funding typically disbursed within 24–48 hours and no collateral required. It serves small and medium businesses across industries such as services, retail, distribution, and manufacturing that have at least six months of trading history.

Founders & leadership

Flow48 was founded in 2022 by Idriss Al Rifai.

IAIdriss Al Rifai
Idriss Al RifaiCo-Founder & CEOHe previously founded Fetchr and held a strategy and data transformation role at Glovo.

Investors · 11

Funding

SEC filings, press & company announcements

$69M disclosed across 1 of 3 rounds · 2023–2025

Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.

Company profile

researched Aug 2026

Flow48 is a business finance provider serving small and medium-sized enterprises in South Africa. It offers two products: invoice-based financing, which advances cash against unpaid customer invoices on 30-, 60- or 90-day payment terms, and revenue-based financing, which provides working capital sized against a business's future revenue rather than its balance sheet, with repayments that flex in line with revenue.

The company positions the products as alternatives to both bank debt and equity investment: funding requires no collateral and no equity dilution, and is intended for uses such as purchasing stock, hiring staff, fulfilling large orders, managing seasonal revenue dips and covering general operating costs.

Business model

Flow48 extends working capital to SMEs through invoice financing and revenue-based financing, with repayment schedules structured around the borrower's revenue or the settlement of financed invoices. It also operates a borrower referral channel.

▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography

Market position

Positions itself as an alternative business funding provider for SMEs competing with traditional bank lenders and equity investors.

The company contrasts its offering with traditional bank lending (collateral requirements, covenants, paperwork, early payment penalties, multi-week approvals) and with equity funding (dilution, loss of control, lengthy due diligence, reporting requirements), emphasising instead fast approvals, no collateral, non-dilutive capital, flexible repayments and transparent fees.

Technology

Flow48 uses electronic enrollment and approval, with online document upload and automated eligibility assessment based on submitted banking and revenue data.

Go-to-market

Customers apply through an online, digital-only process: they create an account, register business and banking details, upload bank statements, invoices or revenue records, review a personalised offer, and receive funds in their business account. The company also promotes a "Refer a Borrower" programme.

South African small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those with steady or recurring revenue, those waiting 30 to 90 days for customer payments, and businesses facing cash flow constraints or seasonal fluctuations.

Geography

South Africa.

Compiled by commissioned research from 1 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.

Key figures

latest reported
Time from accepted offer to funds disbursedJan 202624-48 hours

Company-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.

In the news

▸Research sources · 1

primary sources listed

1 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.

Frequently asked questions

What does Flow48 do?
Flow48 offers revenue-based and invoice financing to South African SMEs seeking working capital.
Who founded Flow48?
Flow48 was founded by Idriss Al Rifai in 2022.
Who are Flow48's investors?
Flow48's investors include Daphni, Evolution Ventures, First Circle, 212, 468 Capital, Blockchain Founders Fund, Breega, Endeavor Catalyst and 3 more.
How much funding has Flow48 raised?
Flow48 has disclosed $69M raised across 1 of its 3 known rounds.