Media reports suggest that Klarna is evaluating a secondary sale to support its planned public listing in the US, amid a period of rapid growth for Swedish fintech.
The Information first reported that a secondary sale could get underway, and Bloomberg followed by reporting that a ‘person close to the matter’ is in early talks with investors.
A secondary sale would see Klarna investors buy up additional shares in the company on the secondary market. To initiate such a sale, Klarna would have to conduct talks with its investors to gauge interest..
According to Bloomberg and The Infomration’s source, who wished to remain unnamed due to disclosing non-public information, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) giant is doing just that.
Founded in 2005, Klarna’s business has extended across various financial services, though its BNPL offering is arguably the most widely used and has proven the most lucrative for the business.
The firm is currently a private enterprise, but has been eyeing up a public listing to access greater capital. With its presence growing in the US, and the country home to some of the world’s largest stock markets, a listing there is a promising prospect for the group.
Regardless of a listing or not, Klarna’s growth trajectory does not show any signs of slowing anytime soon. The company’s last trading update saw total revenue grow 29% year-on-year to SEK 6.4bn (€558m) in Q1 2024, with operating income totalling SEK 229m (€19.97m).
Although it is well established in Europe, the company has cited its push into the US markets as a key growth driver. US revenue rose 38% in Q1 with gross profit rising by a huge 97%, contributing to 22% growth in group-wide gross profit.
An initial public offering in the US and the potential capital this would unlock could enable Klarna to capitalise on this lucrative market even further. Revenue generated could then be directed back into its business as the firm looks to further develop its Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, an added factor it attributes its success to.