Klarna celebrates year-over-year sales, profit gains
Klarna is having quite a summer. It reported sales and profit results for the first half of 2017 that represented gains of 21% and 138%, respectively, reports Finovate (Banking Technology‘s sister company).
The strong financials come amid a series of headlines that show the Swedish payments company making strides on a number of fronts. This includes rumors that Klarna is partnering with Stripe to better access the US market.
Such a partnership would make Klarna the only non-credit card option available on the platform, and enable customers to take advantage of Klarna’s signature “pay after delivery” service.
A deal between Klarna and Stripe also would provide what an anonymous source quoted in Nordic Business Insider referred to as “potentially an important piece of the puzzle” of Klarna’s plan for expansion in the US.
News of Klarna’s impressive first half finances – more than $254 million in revenue for Q1 and Q2 of 2017, and operating profits of $28 million – caps off an impressive summer for the Swedish fintech firm.
At the beginning of this month, Klarna unveiled its new P2P payment service, Wavy. The free service, available in both iOS and Android, enables euro transfers between friends and family in more than 30 European markets.
In July, Klarna announced receiving an investment valued at between $225 million and $250 million from a group advised by global investment firm, Permira. This followed a major strategic investments from Visa and Brightfolk announced in June. And, just in case you missed it, Klarna is also now a bank, having successfully applied for and won a full banking licence from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority earlier this summer.
“Klarna has played a role in disrupting payments services for the better and now as a consumer-oriented, product-driven, and technology-intensive bank, we have the tools to drive change in retail banking,” Klarna CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski said when the announcement was made in June.
Headquartered in Stockholm and founded in 2005, Klarna has raised more than $521 million in funding, and has an estimated valuation of $2.55 billion. It acquired German rival, BillPay, from Wonga in February, and in January the company partnered with ASOS Partners to bring its “pay after delivery” services to consumers in the Nordic region.
Klarna has more than 60 million customers and 70,000 merchants using its technology.
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