Swedish fintech company Klarna is seeking to raise at least $1 billion in an initial public offering (IPO), and plans to file for it as soon as next week. Aiming to price the IPO in early April, Klarna is targeting a valuation of more than $15 billion in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listing, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Deliberations are still going on, and details of the listing plan including timing could still change, according to Bloomberg.
Klarna is best known for its offering of “buy now, pay later” loans which typically allow users to make a purchase and split their payments into equal, interest-free instalments. The fintech startup has over 85 million customers currently, and about 600,000 retail partners across the world.
READ: Inside ClickMe: A conversation with Professor Thomas Serre and Jay Gopal on advancing explainable AI (February 19, 2025)
According to a statement, Klarna first confidentially filed for an IPO with the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2024. It is working on the listing with around 15 banks, led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley.
Backed by Sequoia Capital, Klarna’s listing is set to give a boost to technology IPOs this year as the market has been in a relative slump after setting records for volume in 2021. Other fintech companies including Chime Financial Inc. and Zilch Technology Ltd. are considering potential first-time share sales this year.
Klarna has seen significant fluctuation in valuation over the years, peaking in 2021 at $45.6 billion before dropping to $6.7 billion in 2022. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski mentioned in February that he was considering expanding into the cryptocurrency market as well.
READ: Pulse plans to test and integrate Gemini 2.0 for document processing (February 7, 2025)
In early January, Klarna had also agreed to a partner with the financial services multinational firm Stripe, allowing it to offer its popular “buy now, pay later” plans to merchants using Stripe’s payment tools in 26 countries. The tie up with Stripe could be a big boost for Klarna ahead of the IPO listing in the U.S.