Klarna Group plc, commonly referred to asKlarna, is afintech company anddigital bank.[4] Founded inSweden in 2005, it is domiciled inLondon and listed on theNew York Stock Exchange.[1] Klarna provides onlinefinancial services to 114 million consumers and partners with 850,000 merchants globally.[5][6] Initially offeringbuy now, pay later services, Klarna has expanded its service offering to include interest-free payments, digital banking services and retail and marketing services for thee-commerce industry. As of 2025, it has 4 million debit andcredit card clients.[7]
In 2007,venture capital firmInvestment AB Ãresund invested in the company.[14] In 2010, Klarna started providing services in Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. It also received an investment fromSequoia Capital,[15] and increased its revenue by over 80% to US$54million (~400millionSEK).[16] In 2011, British newspaperThe Telegraph listed Klarna as one of Europe's 100 most promising young tech companies.[17]
In 2011, growth equity firmGeneral Atlantic led a $155million investment round joined byDST Global, and General Atlantic's managing directorAnton Levy joined the board of directors.[18][19] In May 2011, Klarna acquired Israeli company Analyzd, which provided risk management and fraud prevention services. As of 2011[update], about 40% of alle-commerce sales in Sweden were through Klarna.[20] In 2013, Klarna and GermanSOFORT AG [de] merged to become Klarna Group.[21]
In 2019, Klarna raised $460million with plans to expand its operations in the US, with participation fromDragoneer Investment Group,Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HMI Capital, Merian Chysalis Investment Company Limited, and others.[29] This funding round valued the company at $5.5billion, making Klarna the largestfintech start-up in Europe.[30] In 2020, Klarna acquired Nuji, a marketplace for fashion and lifestyle goods.[31]
In 2020,Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of Chinese e-commerce companyAlibaba, invested in Klarna as part of a partnership between the two firms.[32] In June 2021, Klarna raised $639million in a fundraising round led bySoftBank Group's Vision Fund 2, increasing the company's valuation to $45.6billion.[33] In July 2021, Klarna acquired Stocard, an app for storing loyalty cards.[34]
In November 2021, Klarna launched its physical card, which enabled users to make purchases in interest-free installments.[35] In January 2022, Klarna launched its physical card in the UK.[36] The card had a wait list of 400,000 users as of January 2022[update].[37] In 2021, the company was Europe's most valuable private tech company, at a $45.6billion valuation. Its valuation fell to $6.7billion in 2022 after it struggled to attract additional outside investment.[38][39][40][41]
In March 2022, Klarna acquiredPriceRunner, a company that provides price comparisons on products.[42] In May 2022, Klarna laid off roughly 10% of its workforce.[43][44] In June 2022, Klarna announced a partnership deal with card issuer Marqeta to bring physical Visa cards to the US.[45]
In July 2022, Klarna raised $800million in funding at a valuation of $6.7billion. Its valuation dropped 85% in one year, in line with decreasing valuations of unprofitable technology companies.[40] Klarna lost $580million between January and July 2022.[46] In September 2022, it announced plans to lay off an additional 100 employees. The announcement came after budget revisions due to its drop in valuation and announced losses. Since September 2022, Klarna offerssavings accounts and deposits to Spanish customers throughRaisin Bank [es;de].[47]
In October 2022, the company launched a new "Klarna Creator" application for retailers and influencers to collaborate on brand campaigns and track their earnings.[48] In January 2024, the company announced a plan for a monthly subscription plan ahead of an anticipated initial public offering later in the year. Users of the service, called Klarna Plus, would earn double the amount of usual reward points, attain access to a selection of discounts from partners likeNike andInstacart, and see service fees waived when using the Klarna One Time Card. The fee would be $7.99 each month, as opposed to typical fees of $1 or $2 when using the service outside the network at retailers likeWalmart orCostco. The company's Chief Marketing Officer, David Sandstrom, said there were also plans for a high-yield savings account in the US, with potential for subscribers to earn a higher rate than non-users.[49][50][51]
In November 2024, Klarna filed for an initial public offering in the US.[52] In February 2025, Klarna's valuation was estimated at $15 billion.[53] Klarna filed its IPO prospectus in March 2025 with plans to go public on theNew York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol KLAR.[54]
In April 2025, Klarna paused its plans for a U.S. IPO due to market instability caused byPresident Trump's new tariff policies, which shook markets all over the world. Klarna had planned to raise over $1 billion at a valuation above $15 billion. Although the IPO market was showing signs of recovery in 2025, recent listings like Venture Global and CoreWeave had mixed receptions. Market analysts say that such instability often leads companies to delay IPOs. Klarna had 93 million users in 26 countries by the end of 2024, and had seen its valuation drop from a peak of $45.6 billion in 2021 as online spending slowed post-pandemic.[55]
In June 2025, Klarna announced it would pilot a debit card program in the US market, ahead of a full release in Europe. The Klarna Card will allow users to access FDIC-insured funds and Klarna's pay later services.[56] In September 2025, Klarna relaunched its US initial public offering (IPO) which was priced at $40 a share and raised $1.37 billion. At the close of the first day of trading, its valuation was over $17 billion.[57]
In July 2025, Klarna announced a partnership with the fashion resale marketplacePoshmark.[58]
After Klarna underwent its initial public offering in September 2025, the company reported a loss in its first quarterly earning amid a diversification of its services.[59]
In November 2025, Klarna released the KlarnaUSDstablecoin, which was intended to reduce costs when making international payments, cutting out entities like theSWIFT network. The stablecoin exists on a blockchain created byStripe, Inc.[60]
In the UK, Klarna operates in the rapidly growing post-payment sector which has been criticised for encouraging consumers to get themselves into unserviceable levels of debt.[61] According to an interview in theFinancial Times, Klarna had supported industry regulation since 2020 to ensure a"safe and accessible" market.[62] In February 2021, the UK Government announced that the sector would be subject to regulation from the UK'sFinancial Conduct Authority.[63]
TheSwedish Consumer Agency contacted Klarna in 2014, following complaints that customers had received fees and debt collection communication without receiving an invoice. It was speculated if this was an unethical business model since the company made money on these reminder fees and Klarna also had a subsidiary dedicated to debt collection. The Swedish Consumer Agency found a reason to investigate how Klarna added credit fees for partial payments.[64] Before leaving the company in 2015,[65] Niklas Adalberth referred to delinquent consumers as "the best customers" as they could add legal fees and other revenue streams.[66]
In Germany, the District Court ofBremerhaven ruled in 2022 that Klarna could not demand a flat rate of â¬1.20 for a reminder by e-mail because Klarna had not submitted any corresponding costs.[67][68]
In February 2020,Der Spiegel reported that Klarna'sautofill feature allowed anyone to extract personal information, such as phone number, postal address and date of birth, only based on the email address and postal code of a customer.[69] In October 2020, Klarna mistakenly sent a marketing email to people who had never disclosed their contact information to Klarna. This triggered an investigation by theInformation Commissioner's Office in the UK.[70]
For a brief period in May 2021, users could view the information of other users using their own login information. Klarna claims that user information was exposed randomly, and that these exposures only contained non-sensitive data. But users claimed that they were able to view addresses, phone numbers, and payment details of other people.[71][72]
In March 2022, theSwedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten) fined Klarna 7.5 millionkr for inadequacies in its privacy notice and handling of personal data. Klarna said it would appeal the decision for further clarification on the guidelines.[73][74]
In May 2022, Siemiatkowski revealed it would be laying off more than 10% of its employees. A former employee described the layoffs as "chaotic". When Siemiatkowski posted a list of the fired employees onLinkedIn, several users described his post as "tone deaf".[75]
In February 2024, Klarna announced that its newAI assistant could handle the equivalent capacity of up to 700 customer service roles.[76][77]
In December 2024, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski commented on how AI affected his company's hiring policies, stating that the company did not recruit last year because "AI can do all of the jobs that we humans do. It's just a question of how we apply it and use it".[78] In May 2025, the CEO told Bloomberg the company was hiring humans again as over-reliance on AI approach led to "lower quality".[79]
Identity thieves have used Klarna to commit fraud. They exploit Klarna's buy now, pay later scheme to make purchases with a small upfront payment on a stolen account,flip those goods at a much higher price, and then evade making payments.[80][81][82][83][84] CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski was summoned to theSwedish Ministry of Finance to answer questions about its management of identity theft and the debts of customers in May 2019.[85] In 2022, the company said that its fraud checks and controls are as strict as those of banks.[81]
In addition to identity theft issues, many Swedish-based e-commerce scams use Klarna as their payment solution.[86][87]
^Kronö, Simon (7 May 2024)."Så rundar bluffsajterna Klarna – och lurar nya kunder Dagens PS".Dagens PS (in Swedish).Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved8 May 2024.Konsumentverket hängde för tvÃ¥ veckor sedan ut tio bluffsajter som säger sig sälja varor frÃ¥n egna lager i Sverige, men som egentligen skickar dem frÃ¥n utlandet. En majoritet av de namngivna nätbutikerna har Klarna som betalalternativ.
US$2.81 billion (2024)
US$−121 million (2024)
