MW Fintech Klarna files for IPO at a weak point for public debuts

By Claudia Assis

The Sweden-based company is best known for its buy-now-pay-later offerings

Klarna Group Plc has filed for a U.S. initial public offering at a weak moment for company debuts, though the fintech player thinks it can offer investors more than just its buy-now-pay-later products.

Klarna said it was profitable in 2024, with its per-share net profit of 1 cent last year contrasting with a per-share net loss of 69 cents a share in 2023.

The company said its revenue last year rose to $2.8 billion, from $2.3 billion. It ended 2024 with $3.2 billion in cash and equivalents, according to a late Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company did not disclose the number of shares it seeks to sell on the market nor their expected price range.

"We believe that our credit underwriting capabilities, enabled by our proprietary data from approximately 2.9 million transactions made on average per day on our network from 93 million active Klarna consumers in 2024, differentiate us from other networks," the company said.

"We are able to make underwriting decisions in seconds with our fully automated processes and underwrite every transaction in real time," it added.

Klarna began operations in Sweden in 2005, expanding to other European countries after that. It further branched out to other regions in 2019, with a "particular focus" on the U.S., and moved to be domiciled in the U.K. last year.

Klarna is applying to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "KLAR."

The company listed as risks to its business its "history of incurring losses," saying it may not be "successful in effectively balancing growth and profitability in the future.

Klarna also relies on third parties and their systems for several of its services, and these parties' failure to perform could affect the company, it said. Rising competition was another listed risk factor.

Klarna's IPO comes as big public offerings have been few and far between due to stock-market turmoil and trade-war concerns, but arrives as the IPO market is gearing up for a seasonally busier spring calendar.

CoreWeave (CRWV), an AI cloud-services provider that started off as a crypto miner, filed for an IPO earlier this month, bucking that trend. CoreWeave is expected to price its IPO as soon as next week.

Meanwhile, shares of Affirm Holdings Inc. $(AFRM)$, another notable buy-now-pay-later company, rose 0.7% in extended trading Friday after ending the regular session up 6.8%.

-Claudia Assis

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March 14, 2025 17:35 ET (21:35 GMT)

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