Klarna

Performance indicators

2022: Losses rise to $1 billion

The loss of the Swedish online payment service Klarna grew by 47% in 2022, to $1 billion. This did not prevent the startup from raising its CEO Sebastian Simiatkowski's salary by 35%, the FT writes in February 2023. The amount of his remuneration over the past year amounted to $1.3 million. In 2021, he became a billionaire.

In 2022, Klarna recorded 19.3 billion Swedish crowns in revenue (about $1.83 billion). This is 21% more than the result for the previous year, when the startup's revenue was 15.9 billion kronor. Against this background, as noted, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski received a reward of 13.2 million kronor (almost $1.3 million), which is 35% more on an annualized basis.

Klarna company received an annual loss of $1 billion

The company continues its aggressive expansion in the United States. The report says that by the end of 2022, the American region became Klarna's largest market in terms of revenue, overtaking Germany. The number of customers in the United States exceeded 34 million. During 2022, many large retailers joined Klarna in the American market, including Samsung, Groupon, Booking.com, Instacart, Tractor Supply Company and Fossil Group.

{{quote 'In May 2022, Klarna became one of the first global fintech companies to rebuild its business in line with the new macroeconomic environment. The business has shown clear progress towards profitability - while increasing revenue, reducing costs and reducing credit losses, the company said in a report. }}

The number of Klarna customers on a global scale in 2022 reached 150 million. The company's year-on-year marketing revenue more than doubled, up 131%. This was facilitated by the development of new services, such as virtual purchases and new comparison tools. It is noted that Klarna continues to invest in products and services to help consumers save time and money.^[1]

2021: Loss - $749 million

At the end of 2021, the net losses of the fintech company Klarna amounted to $749 million, while in 2020 they amounted to $149 million. Such data was presented by Klarna in the financial report published at the end of February 2022.

In 2021, Klarna expanded the ecosystem, as a result of which the fintech company has more than 400 thousand retail partners with stable payments. Klarna consumers are interested in the company's complex products, which allow them to save time and money - their number at the end of 2021 reached 100 million, another 47 million users joined Klarna as a result of mergers with other projects.

Europe's largest fintech company suffers $749 million loss in 2021

The U.S. continues to be the fastest growing key market for Klarna by volume and the second largest market for Klarna by revenue, largely due to the success of the app.

U.S. sales volumes more than tripled year-on-year, helped by a 71% increase in Klarna's U.S. consumer base to 25 million in January 2022.

About 40% of the company's transactions in 2021 fell on the Pay Now service, management expects this share in physical stores to approach 90%. More than 800 thousand consumers in Sweden, Germany and the UK, which is 50% more than in 202, enjoy the benefits of Klarna cards with clear payment schedules, without interest and foreign exchange markups, in the United States there are 500 thousand potential users waiting for the launch of the service.

The US has the highest share of users of the Klarna app, accounting for more than 40% global downloads, ranking Klarna among the top 10 most downloaded shopping apps in the US. In December 2021, the number of downloads of the Klarna application in the United States exceeded the figures, PayPal,, and YouTube Snapchat. Whatsapp Twitter^[2]

History

2022

85% decrease in value estimate to $6.7 billion

The most expensive fintech service in Europe, Klarna, fell 85%. In the new round of investments, it was estimated at $6.7 billion.

Fintech service Klarna raised $800 million from Sequoia, Silver Lake, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Mubadala and others, writes TechCrunch. Investors valued the company at $6.7 billion, which is 85% less than in June 2021 - then its estimate was $46 billion.

10% staff reduction due to conflict in Ukraine

At the end of May 2022, the Swedish payment giant Klarna, which employs more than 7 thousand employees, announced a 10% reduction in staff. As a result of personnel optimization, about 700 people will be laid off from the most expensive European fintech company by the end of June 2022.

During June 2022, some employees in Europe will be asked to leave Klarna in exchange for severance pay. Some employees outside Europe will also have to leave the company, but the process for the rest of the employees will look different depending on where the employee works and what position he holds in terms of irreplaceability for the business.

Klarna cuts 10% of the state due to conflict in Ukraine

The company does not name a single reason for the layoffs. Instead, it lists various macro and geopolitical factors that have led to a difficult decision for Klarna's senior management. Among them is the Russian special operation in Ukraine. The company did not tell its employees who exactly the job cuts would affect. Calendar invitations will be sent out before the end of May 2022.

Klarna allows users to pay for purchases in partner stores in installments. According to CNBC, such companies became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the growth of online shopping. But by May 2022, investors are worried about market resilience as users cut costs due to rising inflation and high loan costs.

It's not a curiosity for me to share good and bad news. Today, however, is the hardest to date. As much as we like it, Klarna doesn't exist in the bubble... When we determined our 2022 business plans in the fall of 2021, it was a very different world from the one we are in today. Since then, we have seen changes in consumer sentiment, soaring inflation, a highly volatile stock market and a likely recession, "said Klarna co-founder and CEO Sebastian Semiatkowski.

In Europe, Klarna operates as a regulated bank. Customers can open a bank account with Klarna and use the service to collect interest on term savings plans. Thus, the company can directly attract deposits from retail investors. As of May 2022, the company operates with 400 thousand merchants around the world, and their main product is a payment function that allows you to buy something now and pay for it later in a few parts.^[3]

2021

Raising $6 million from Arctic Ventures, estimated at $45 million

On July 20, 2021, it became known about the investments of the fund Arctic Ventures created the Swiss by Anton Alikov, ex-partner of the investment company Blackfort Capital AG, in Klarna Swedishfintechstartup. We are talking about investments of $6 million, the press service of the fund reports. At the same time, Arctic Ventures' stake in Klarna was not disclosed.

Anton Alikov, commenting on investing in Klarna, noted that in less than a year the company has become more expensive at four more expensive - this is impressive growth, which will only intensify as the company enters new markets.

Klarna is actively working outside Europe, in the United States it is experiencing explosive growth - 18 million people have already become its clients, he said.

Investment company with Russian roots Klarna invested in the most expensive fintech startup

It is noted that Arctic Ventures bought Klarna shares in the secondary market after a round that took place in March 2021 with a startup valuation of $31 billion. By July 2021, Klarna's valuation had already reached $45.6 billion. SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Ant Group,, Sequoia Capital Sovereign Wealth Fund Singapore and other large funds and companies also invested in the company.

Attracting investment is overshadowed by a scandal centered on Klarna. In July 2021, the Financial and Insurance Sweden Authority (Finansinspektionen, FSA) initiated an investigation into Klarna in connection with a possible violation of the banking secrecy law.

According to Reuters, on May 27, 2021, for 30 minutes, Klarna customers were shown other people's data. According to the company's notification, the cause of the temporary failure was the human factor. Bank card details were not displayed. The investigation "was highly anticipated as part of a regular dialogue with Sweden's FSA," Klarna officials said, and the company is providing the regulator with all necessary assistance.

Raising $639 million of investments, an estimate of $45 billion

In mid-June 2021, fintechstartup Klarna announced an additional $639 million, raising the startup's valuation to $45.6 billion. The investment round was led by Vision Fund 2 from, SoftBank it also included an investment company with Russian roots Raison Asset Management and existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group. Raison Asset Management acquired shares of Klarna in the secondary market, increasing its stake in the portfolio to $1 million.

Investment company with Russian roots invested in Klarna

The new estimate represents a 47.3% increase from Klarna's $31 billion estimate at the beginning of March 2021, when it raised $1 billion, and 330% more than its $10.6 billion estimate after raising $650 million in September 2020.

The latest funding strengthens the position of 16-year-old Klarna as the highest-paid private fintech company in Europe.

In an interview TechCrunch with Klarna CEO and founder Sebastian Szemiatkowski, said the company has seen explosive growth in and USA plans to use the funds raised in part to continue growth in this market and around the world.

Over the past year, the number of American consumers using Klarna has exceeded 18 million. At the end of the third quarter of 2020, the number of consumers was 10 million, and a year earlier they were 118% less. By June 2021, Klarna is operating with 24 of the top 100 U.S. retailers alone in the U.S., which the startup said is "more than any of its competitors." The start-up partners with more than 250,000 retailers worldwide.

Overall, Klarna operates in 20 markets, has over 90 million active users worldwide and handles over 2 million transactions per day. In 2021, Klarna entered six new markets, including New Zealand France and plans to enter several more. The company has about 4,000 employees, several hundred of whom work in the United States, in particular in and. New York The Angeles startup also has offices in,, Manchester,,, and Stockholm London. Berlin Madrid Amsterdam^[4]

Raising $6 million from Mindrock Capital

On May 20, 2021, the Russian investment company Mindrock Capital announced the investment of $6 million in Klarna. The company's shares were acquired in the secondary market, Mindrock told TAdviser.

Speaking about the reasons that prompted the investment in Klarna, the managing partner of Mindrock Capital Grigory Trubkin said the following:

In recent years, we have seen active attempts by startups to shake up the traditional and ossified financial market: from offering digital currencies to introducing alternative services that are more affordable, convenient and cheap for users. Klarna is already showing what the financial system will look like in 10-20 years.

Russian fund Mindrock Capital invested in fintech startup Klarna, valued at $31 billion

According to Trubkin, the new generation wants to have all the necessary financial services in one application and not think about offices, documents and other bureaucracy. Klarna provides this service and its growth potential is enormous, he stated.

Earlier in 2021, Klarna was valued at $31 billion, the highest among European startups. By May 2021, 90 million people in Europe and the United States are active clients of the company, and about 2 million transactions pass through it per day. In Sweden, Klarna products are used by more than 60% of the population. With a similar level of penetration only in Europe, the company already has a chance to become a trillion-dollar company even without taking into account emerging markets, according to Mindrock.

According to the investment company, Klarna has great opportunities for business growth: the younger generation in developed markets is actively switching from traditional banking products to new "digital wallets." The number of active digital wallets in the world has exceeded the number of active bank deposits. Also, tens of millions of new users from emerging markets, which are initially focused on digital financial products, are included in the global economy every year, Mindrock Capital explained.

2020

Investing in smart scooter maker Voi Technology

In early December 2020, Swedish smart scooter manufacturer Voi Technology completed a Series C funding round and raised $160 million to expand the company. Now Voi Technology is valued at $1 billion. Read more here.

Raising $650 million of investments, an estimate of $10 billion

On September 14, 2020, Klarna officially became the most expensive fintech company in Europe. The Swedish startup raised $650 million during the next round of funding, which was led by the Silver Lake Partners venture capital fund and the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Singapore. Now Klarna is estimated at $10.6 billion.

Silver Lake Partners Managing Director Jonathan Durham noted:

Klarna is one of the most disruptive and promising fintech companies in the world, improving the e-commerce experience for millions of consumers and global retailers.

Europe's most expensive fintech startup Klarna now costs $10 billion

Startup Klarna gained fame mainly thanks to its buy now - pay later model. It offers users interest-free financing of retail purchases in installments, the startup takes on transactional risks and responsibilities for processing payments. Klarna pays the seller when the user buys something on his platform, and users later return the amount to the startup in installments.

The seller receives money at the time of the order, and the user can pay for the purchase within 14 days from the date of receipt or at the end of the month, this option is available to Klarna Account users. The startup partners with major companies such as Adidas, Samsung, as well as H & M. Klarna's regional rivals are British mobile bank Revolut, as well as a payment software manufacturer Checkout.com.

According to CB Insights, Klarna startup was valued at $5.5 billion before the deal, as were popular startups Revolut and Checkout.

As of September 2020, the Klarna app has over 12 million monthly active users worldwide. Every day, the application is downloaded about 55,000 times - according to the company, this is almost three times the number of downloads from its closest competitor over the past year.^[5]

Klarna - among the European companies that attracted the most investments in 5 years

The European technology companies that attracted the most investments from 2015 to February 2, 2020

Notes