Swedish payments firm Klarna Group has filed for an initial public offering in the United States, ending months of speculation that the company was readying a stock market listing.
Klarna confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the IPO, the company said in a statement. The number of shares to be offered and the price range have not yet been determined.
While no financial details were provided in the statement, analysts last month put Klarna's implied valuation at about $14.6 billion after shareholder
That would mark an improvement from the $6.7 billion price tag it garnered in its last fundraising round in 2022, but it's all a far cry from the $45.6 billion price tag Klarna got in a 2021 fundraising round. What was once of the world's most valuable startups saw its valuation plummet amid a tech rout sparked by the war in Ukraine and a sharp jump in interest rates.
The formal start of listing proceedings has come despite turbulence in the company's board room. In October, Klarna shareholders voted to oust a member of the company's board of directors — Mikael Walther — after he and co-founder Victor Jacobsson repeatedly clashed with Chairman Mike Moritz and Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
Klarna said in the statement that its public debut is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.
In October, Klarna Bank struck a deal to
The deal with a subsidiary of the hedge fund Elliott Investment Management is expected to give Klarna $39 billion of fresh firepower over the coming years as it looks to grow its business around the world. Klarna will continue to service the loans included in the agreement.
Klarna, which has a banking license in its home country of Sweden, has been building a platform that allows it to offload loans on its balance sheet to investors around the world. The moves free up capital and mean the financial technology behemoth can more easily make new loans to customers.
