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Klarna IPO

Everything you need to know

Swedish fintech company Klarna is rumoured to be considering an initial public offering (IPO) that could take place within the next year. Discover some essential points about Klarna’s upcoming IPO, including the company’s history, valuation, and recent financial reports.

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What does the company do and how does it make money?

Klarna was founded in 2005 in Stockholm, Sweden, where it still has headquarters. It's a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service provider, allowing users to spread the cost of purchases over multiple transactions, such as three consecutive monthly payments.

The company has over 150 million active consumers across over 550,000 merchants in 45 countries worldwide. Popular online retailers that offer Klarna as a payment method include H&M, Adidas, Sephora, IKEA, and ASOS, and the company has made its services available in physical stores.

According to Bloomberg, the company makes most of its money by charging its partnering retailer, where some companies pay up to 3.4% of each transaction plus 28 cents for the “pay in 30 days” option. It has been estimated that retailers offering a BNPL payment method see an increase of approximately 45% in average order value.

When is Klarna’s IPO date?

Klarna hasn’t yet revealed an official IPO date but is expected to follow the traditional IPO route or a direct listing, ruling out the possibility of a SPAC merger, according to Reuters.

The company also hasn’t chosen a definite stock exchange to list on, but it has expressed interest in London and New York.

What will Klarna’s share price be?

Its share price will also be revealed closer to its IPO date when the company officially files to go public.

What is Klarna’s valuation?

The company was last valued at $6.7bn in a fundraising round in 2023.

In 2013, Klarna became a unicorn company after reaching a market cap of over $1bn, also reaching 10 million users (which was more than the population of Sweden at the time).

How to trade on Klarna’s IPO

1. Register your interest

By entering your email into the sign-up box above, we will notify you when the company has listed on its chosen exchange.

2. Open an account

Choose whether you want to spread bet or trade CFDs when the derivative is available on our platform. You can practise trading on Klarna’s competitors in the meantime with virtual funds on a CMC Markets demo account.

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3. Pick a strategy

Choose whether you want to go long (buy) or go short (sell). Please note that some trading restrictions may apply on initial trading.

4. Manage your risk

Learn how to apply stop-loss and take-profit orders to reduce the risks that come with trading in the IPO market.

Read our risk-management guide

How are Klarna’s financials?

Klarna recorded its first profitable month and quarter for four years in 2023, as well as its first full year of profit growth in the US. The company’s revenue rose by 22% to $217m, while losses came down from just under $1bn in 2022 to $241m in 2023.

In the first nine months of 2021, the company made pre-tax losses of $344m, a fourfold increase from how much it lost in the same period in 2020, according to CNBC. Most of the losses came from general administrative expenses and credit losses.​​

In 2020, the company reported revenues of $1.09bn, a 40% increase from the previous year’s figures. It was the first time that revenues crossed the billion-dollar mark. Losses also decreased across all major markets, which could be attributed to COVID-19’s positive effect on the e-commerce sector.

Why may investors be interested in Klarna’s IPO?

As well as Scandinavia, where it originated, the company’s services launched in the UK in 2014, the US in 2015, and Australia and other European countries in 2020.

It boasts international investors such as Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic, Visa, Permira, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), SoftBank, Ant Group, and TCV, who have led funding rounds in recent years.

By targeting a younger generation of customers, Klarna’s success can be partly attributed to its popular mobile application, which has over 150m active users.

Are there any risks for the company?

BNPL companies are a hot topic, and there will be major competition from tech giants such as PayPal, Amazon, and Apple, who are also getting on board with new product offerings. In January 2022, digital payments company Block bought out one of Klarna’s main rivals, Afterpay, for $29bn in a blockbuster deal.

Concerns have been raised by financial regulators and credit rating companies that the company’s business model may encourage ‘reckless borrowing’, according to Bloomberg. Its target audience of millennial and generation Z shoppers may see themselves loaded with short-term debt if they don’t understand the process properly, which could hurt Klarna’s reputation.

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Client sentiment is provided by CMC Markets for general information only, is historical in nature and is not intended to provide any form of trading or investment advice – it must not form the basis of your trading or investment decisions.

FAQS

Is Klarna profitable?

Although it was one of the first fintech companies to reach profitability, Klarna had been unprofitable since 2019, making large losses each year. However, the company has made major investments in new technology and plans to expand to more international markets, and 2023 marked Klarna’s first profitable month and quarter in four years, as well as its first full year of profit growth in the US. The company’s revenue rose by 22% to $217m, while losses came down from just under $1bn in 2022 to $241m in 2023.

Are there other fintech companies having an IPO?

Other leaders within the fintech industry that are speculated to be planning a potential IPO include Monzo, Stripe, Revolut and Starling Bank. See a list of upcoming IPOs.

Disclaimer: CMC Markets is an execution-only service provider. The material (whether or not it states any opinions) is for general information purposes only, and does not take into account your personal circumstances or objectives. Nothing in this material is (or should be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by CMC Markets or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. The material has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research. Although we are not specifically prevented from dealing before providing this material, we do not seek to take advantage of the material prior to its dissemination.

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