Klarna is finally ready to go public — and the buy now, pay later company plans to do so in the US.
The Swedish fintech announced on Tuesday it had “confidentially submitted” a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, beginning the process for its long-anticipated stock market listing.
The US watchdog review process is likely to take one to two months, after which Klarna will be able to start building an order book for the IPO.
Since its founding in 2005, Klarna has expanded its offering beyond buy now, pay later to also include a smart shopping assistant, a checkout solution and banking products, including a personal account for deposits and cashback rewards.
In the process, the company has raised $4.2bn in funding from investors including Sequoia Capital, Atomico, Mubadala, SoftBank, Northzone and BlackRock.
It’s currently valued at $14.3bn, according to Dealroom — but its shareholders will be hoping it lists at a higher valuation. Klarna’s valuation hit a high of $45.6bn in 2021 but this was watered down to $6.7bn at its last primary funding round in 2022. Klarna said the price and number of shares to be offered when it lists is yet to be determined.
The fintech has also been subject to internal divisions among senior management recently, notably between CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski and cofounder Victor Jacobsson. At the tail end of last month, Klarna shareholders voted to oust director Mikael Walther from its board, who was seen as a key ally of Jacobsson.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/klarna-files-ipo-us-news/
