Klarna Eyes U.S. with $100 Million Expansion, New Ohio HQ (Dec. 4, 2014)
Europe’s biggest payments company is coming to the U.S. Stockholm-based e-payments provider Klarna has announced it will earmark at least $100 million for a U.S. expansion, including a new operations center in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 2005, the company offers e-merchants a mobile payments platform that enables customers to make purchases without entering any payment data. Klarna pays the retailer immediately and then collects from the consumer within 14 days, assuming all of the risk of the unpaid balance in the interim.
Klarna’s U.S. expansion—first announced in September—will represent the company’s 16th market and first outside Europe, where it supports more than 25 million users and 45,000 retailers and has more than 1,000 employees. The company will launch in Columbus with an initial staff of around 20, but expects to grow to several hundred within the next few years. A New York office also is being planned. Klarna expects to have five to 10 merchants signed up at launch. Brian Billingsley will head up the company’s U.S. operations as CEO, Klarna North America.
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