Buy now, pay later startup Klarna files for U.S. IPO as valuation rebounds to $15 billion

Four months after it confidentially submitted IPO documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Swedish fintech startup Klarna has officially filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KLAR.

Klarna, known for its “buy now, pay later” services, hasn’t disclosed how many shares it plans to offer or the expected price range. The decision to list in the U.S. is a blow to European stock exchanges, which have struggled to retain homegrown tech companies. Klarna’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, has hinted for years that a U.S. listing was more likely, citing better visibility and regulatory advantages.

Once valued at $46 billion in a SoftBank-led funding round during the pandemic, Klarna faced a sharp downturn when its valuation was slashed by 85% in 2022, dropping to $6.7 billion.

Since then, the company has been on a comeback path. Analysts now estimate Klarna’s valuation at around $15 billion, boosted by its return to profitability in 2023. The company reported a 24% revenue increase last year, reaching $2.8 billion. Klarna swung from a $49 million adjusted operating loss in 2022 to a $181 million profit in 2023, though its overall operating loss stood at $121 million for the year.

Klarna joins a wave of tech startups eyeing the public markets after a sluggish stretch for IPOs. Earlier this month, CoreWeave, a provider of cloud-based Nvidia processors, filed its prospectus. Cloud software vendor ServiceTitan went public in December, marking the first significant venture-backed tech IPO since Rubrik’s debut in April. Reddit also joined the NYSE recently. Still, market volatility could impact Klarna’s plans. The Nasdaq just wrapped up its fourth straight week of losses, hitting its lowest level since September before a modest rebound.

Founded in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth, and Victor Jacobsson, Klarna was created to simplify online shopping with its BNPL model. With over 12 million active users each month and 55,000 daily downloads, Klarna has quickly become a leading provider in the BNPL space.

Klarna’s “buy now, pay later” model allows consumers to split purchases into installments. The company competes with Affirm, which went public in 2021, and Afterpay, which Block acquired for $29 billion in early 2022. Klarna also goes head-to-head with major banks like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America, as well as credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard. Digital-focused banks such as Revolut and Nubank are also competitors.

Klarna has operated as a fully licensed bank in Europe since 2017 and is now eyeing a U.S. banking license. Currently, it partners with WebBank for its American operations. Siemiatkowski told CNBC in December that Klarna is investing $1 billion to accelerate its money-transmitting licenses.

“We want to accelerate our money transmitting licenses,” Siemiatkowski told CNBC, adding that the company is willing to invest $1 billion in that effort. Klarna wants to “go after these horrendous credit card fees that American consumers are used to paying,” he said.

The fintech space is heating up. Block recently secured approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to originate loans through its banking subsidiary, Square Financial Services, expanding its short-term lending product, Cash App Borrow. Competitors like PayPal and Affirm are also enhancing their lending and payment services. Klarna will have to offer competitive rates and incentives to keep pace.

Whether Klarna’s IPO will ride the wave of recent public listings or face headwinds from market uncertainties remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the fintech race is far from over.

Klarna Founders