After the Pop: Klarna’s first month as a public company

The IPO glow — and the hard part that comes after

For a company built on the promise of ‘buy now, pay later,’ Klarna took its time when it came to the stock market. Two decades after its founding in Stockholm, the fintech finally rang the bell on the New York Stock Exchange this September under the ticker KLAR, pulling off the largest IPO of 2025 (as of today). Shares priced at $40 and quickly surged, pushing Klarna’s valuation near $20 billion — a head-turning debut that restored some shine to one of fintech’s most scrutinized names.

However, its first month on the market has been a mix of optimism, scrutiny, and the realities of life as a listed fintech: steady user and revenue growth, exciting product launches, but also the weight of losses, competition, and investor pressure.

We look at what Klarna is doing after going public. The deeper question now, in fact, isn’t whether it belongs on Wall Street, but how it plans to thrive there.

Stats that map the arc from startup to public company

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