Klarna valued at $15B ahead of trading debut

Buy Now and later company Klarna is holding its long-awaited initial public offering on Wednesday after raising $1.37 billion.

The Swedish company valued the IPO price at $40, surpassing the expected range of $35 to $37, valued around $15 billion.

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CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski Many years ago he and chairman Michael Moritz told Fox Business that he and his chairman were assuming an IPO modeled after Google. They said the company “when it was a global phenomenon, it was beneficial, but it itself had a lot of growth.” Siemiatkowski said that in order to be successful globally, it means the company must increase profitability in the US.

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski is standing in front of the New York Stock Exchange on September 9, 2025 as Klarna prepares for an IPO. (Klarna)

Founded in 2005, Siemiatkowski is said to have grown the startup into a global AI-powered payment and shopping platform. To date, there have been over 100 million active users.

Wednesday marks the company’s strategic milestone as the CEO said he was not selling stocks during the IPO and is generally seen as an exit move in the industry, but instead has been invested in the long term and demonstrates confidence in the company’s long-term value. Siemiatkowski says Klarna’s goal is to compete directly with retail banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citibank.

“I think there’s this demand and people want something else from their banks. Most people aren’t that excited about what banks have done for them over the past few decades,” he said. “There were banks that were highly competitive, but in my opinion, no bank was willing to do things differently.”

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Klarna’s signature, located in front of the New York Stock Exchange, precedes its public debut. (Klarna)

He is confident that the company can become a strong competitor. Despite achieving profitability in the US last year, Siemiatkowski said he is confident that he can maintain that momentum as Americans become more and more annoyed by traditional credit cards.

“The key is to see a lot of Americans who are very tired of their credit cards. [and] How do they feel they are being fooled by a lot of debt with a lot of interest,” he said.

Klarna debuted her long-awaited IPO on September 10th, 2025. (Gabby Jones via Getty Images/Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

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According to Siemiatkowski, a significant portion of consumers prefer traditional credit card alternatives, but still wants to access credit payment options from time to time. To meet that demand, Klarna began testing debit cards in June, developed in collaboration with Visa and issued through Webbank.

With the Klarna Card, consumers can choose to pay or postpone payments as needed, both online and in-store, with over 150 million visa acceptance merchants worldwide. The company sees it as a more consumer-friendly alternative to traditional credit cards. Siemiatkowski said that since its launch, 700,000 Americans have signed up for Klarna, with over 5 million still on the waiting list.

Buy now and pay later services like Klarna, Rivals afterpay, Affirm, Paypal, and more, and consumers are exploding in popularity as economic pressures often look for ways to grow their budgets by paying in interest-free installments as they place a heavy emphasis on households. Traditionally, they have been sold and used to expensive items, but Siemiatkovsky said Klarna targets everyday spending, from groceries and travel to subscriptions such as Spotify and Disney+.

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Klarna is not affected by the credit pitfalls, but Siemiatkowski said that its losses are 20% to 30% below the industry average, supporting app transparency and relatively small, with interest-free loans of around $100.

He also said Klarna will adjust its lending standards quickly and become more agile than traditional banks in a recession.