Klarna shares jumped 30% during the long-awaited debut in New York, valuing the Swedish fintech at $19.65 billion. This marked the end of years of anticipation for the company\u2019s IPO and highlighted the recovery of the broader U.S. IPO market.<\/p>\n
The stock opened at $52 per share, compared with the IPO price of $40.<\/p>\n
The \u201cbuy now, pay later\u201d (BNPL) service led a lineup of seven companies, including the Winklevoss twins\u2019 crypto exchange Gemini, that plan to list in New York by Friday. It will be the busiest IPO week in the U.S. in recent years.<\/p>\n
The strong wave of debuts kicks off a packed autumn season after tariff-related instability earlier this year slowed the recovery of the IPO market, which had been in a nearly three-year lull.<\/p>\n
Klarna and several other major companies paused their IPO plans in April after market volatility driven by tariffs shook investor confidence.<\/p>\n
The company and its investors sold 34.3 million shares at $40 each, above the indicated range of $35\u201337. The IPO valued Klarna at $15.1 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis IPO is primarily an opportunity for new shareholders, our 111 million consumers, and other stakeholders to join in the transformation of the financial industry and the creation of a new generation of personal finance,\u201d said Klarna CFO Niklas Neglen in an interview with Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n Selling shareholders, including venture capital giant Sequoia Capital and Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen (Heartland A\/S), raised $1.17 billion in the IPO. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who owns about 7% of Klarna, did not sell his shares.<\/p>\n Klarna became the largest Swedish company to go public in the U.S. since Spotify in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201c$15 billion is far from disappointing, especially since it\u2019s above Klarna\u2019s price range, and it confirms the trend: issuers deliberately underprice IPOs to attract investors and generate even higher demand,\u201d said Samuel Kerr, head of ECM at Mergermarket.<\/p>\n In 2021, Klarna raised funds at a $45.6 billion valuation, but its worth plummeted to $6.7 billion a year later amid inflation and rising interest rates.<\/p>\n The company had long considered a New York listing and even explored a direct listing in 2021, bypassing the sale of new shares and the costs of a traditional IPO.<\/p>\n \u201cSuccessful trading could encourage other fintech companies to go public as well,\u201d said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.<\/p>\n But he warned: \u201cThe danger is that one strong IPO could be followed by a wave of less successful ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Founded in 2005, when e-commerce was still emerging, Klarna has become one of the leaders in BNPL, reshaping online shopping with short-term financing.<\/p>\n BNPL allows consumers to split payments into installments and became especially popular after the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand for such services is growing amid persistent inflation, labor market issues, and slowing income growth.<\/p>\n \u201cKlarna\u2019s IPO will serve as a thermometer of just how hot investor appetite is for BNPL,\u201d said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.<\/p>\n U.S. rival Affirm is valued at $29 billion, with its stock up 45% this year. IPO filings showed Affirm\u2019s average transaction size at $276, compared to Klarna\u2019s $101 for the year ending June 30.<\/p>\n While Klarna focuses on smaller purchases and short-term loans, Affirm targets larger transactions with long-term, interest-free financing.<\/p>\n Profitable for its first 14 years, Klarna has posted losses in recent years due to expansion in the U.S. and other markets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now more focused on delivering additional value to our existing user base rather than on growing it, since growth has already been very steady,\u201d Siemiatkowski told Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n Analysts expect BNPL to gradually take market share from debit cards in the coming years, as consumers increasingly prefer the flexibility of installment payments.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":150320,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[31529,31527,31528],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-150319","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti","newstag-companynewsbusinessnewscorporateupdatesleadershipchangesmergersandacquisitionsmarketmovements","newstag-novynykompanijbiznesnovynyrynkytransformacziyabiznesu","newstag-novostykompanyjbyznesnovostykorporatyvnenovostysmenarukovodstvaslyyanyyaypogloshhenyyarnkyykompanyy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/150319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=150319"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=150319"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=150319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}