Buy-Now-Pay-Later Firm Klarna Files for US IPO

Swedish fintech company Klarna said it has filed for a long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S.

Klarna said on Tuesday that it had “confidentially submitted” a draft registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), noting that the number of shares it is planning to offer and the price range of an IPO have yet to be determined.

The IPO is expected to take place after the SEC reviews Klarna’s filing, the buy-now-pay-later specialist said.

Buy-now-pay-later allows consumers to split up a purchase into multiple installments and has grown in popularity in recent years as elevated interest rates hurt consumers’ wallets. Founded in 2005 in Sweden, artificial intelligence (AI) -focused Klarna now has around 85 million customers globally, and has recently been rolling out new savings and spending account features in a bid to take on the legacy banking industry.

Klarna Last Valued at $6.7B in 2022

Still, Klarna’s market value has tumbled since the pandemic as interest rates rose and the frenzy for online shopping waned. It was valued at $6.7 billion, the company said in July 2022, following a fundraising round during an equity rout. That was well off a peak valuation of $45.6 billion in 2021.

The IPO could value Klarna between $15 billion and $20 billion, the Financial Times reported. The report said the fintech’s costly expansion into the U.S. in recent years—as it tried to take on rival Affirm Holdings (AFRM)—has weighed on profits.