Klarna will debut on the US stock market tonight, with reports that venture capital giant Sequoia Capital will earn $2.7 billion

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Klarna Group Plc, focusing on the "buy now, pay later" model, has decided to price its U.S. stock market public offering at $40 per share, corresponding to an implied market value of $15.1 billion. Klarna's debut in the U.S. stock market is expected to bring strong returns of billions of dollars to its largest investor, Sequoia Capital. According to media reports, an unnamed insider, who requested anonymity due to the information not being publicly disclosed, stated that this long-established Silicon Valley venture capital firm has a total investment of about $500 million in the company.

When Klarna's stock was priced on Tuesday, the value of Sequoia's holdings was approximately $3.2 billion, meaning Sequoia is expected to achieve more than six times the return, with earnings of about $2.7 billion after deducting the original investment. As the stock begins trading on Wednesday and its price may fluctuate significantly, this figure will change. Sequoia declined to comment on its holdings.

After 20 years since its establishment, Klarna's listing will bring a welcome respite to its earliest supporters. The company's path to the public market has been tumultuous: after a surge in valuation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve led to a significant decline in the company's valuation during the tech downturn, and Klarna completed one of the most aggressive "down rounds" (raising funds at a lower valuation) in the global tech industry. Last year, a dramatic boardroom upheaval at Klarna triggered a rare public conflict among Sequoia's leadership.

At its peak, the company reached a valuation of $45.6 billion after a $639 million investment led by Japan's SoftBank Group in 2021. By a round of financing in 2022, amid the boom and bust of fintech company valuations, its valuation plummeted to about $6.7 billion.

On Tuesday, investor enthusiasm for new IPO stocks in the U.S. market continued to rise, pushing the company's stock pricing above the marketing range. Klarna is considered a significant IPO this year, following AI cloud computing leader CoreWeave, the "first stock of stablecoins" Circle, and the emerging cryptocurrency force Bullish. The global IPO market has clearly rebounded, especially the U.S. IPO market, which is expected to maintain its hot momentum in the near future and is likely to welcome the busiest week for U.S. stock market listings this year.

Klarna is best known for providing "buy now, pay later" financing options, covering both short-term and long-term loans for consumer shopping. The company is also turning its ambitions toward becoming a global digital bank, offering consumers digital debit cards and other digital products. One of its competitors, Affirm Holdings Inc., has seen its stock price rise by over 40% this year.

Last year, Klarna experienced an unusual boardroom upheaval involving some of Sequoia's leadership. Silicon Valley heavyweight Michael Moritz, who led Sequoia's early investment in Klarna in 2010, continued to serve as a director of Klarna even after stepping away from the company's daily operations in 2023. He has publicly supported Klarna, even calling the company "top-notch" during its valuation lows Matthew Miller, a partner at Sequoia Europe and a board member of Klarna at the time, had requested the removal of Moritz in early 2024 but ultimately failed—he himself left the venture capital firm, and Andrew Reed took his place on the Klarna board.

What is Klarna Group?

Klarna Group plc (abbreviated as "Klarna") is a fintech company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, originally focused on "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) services, providing online and offline payment, installment, and checkout solutions for consumers and merchants. The company was founded in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski and two other partners and now operates in multiple countries worldwide, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: KLAR).

In terms of its main business, it can be described as "two ends integrated": consumers + merchants. For the consumer side, Klarna offers a variety of BNPL/installment and payment options (such as "Pay in 4" interest-free installments, "Pay in 30 days" for deferred payment, and longer-term installments), and integrates features like price comparison, cashback, order tracking, and virtual/physical cards within its app, positioning itself as an application that combines shopping and payment.

For the merchant/business side, Klarna provides a comprehensive solution for e-commerce and offline stores, including checkout/payment processing, risk management, and marketing to enhance conversion rates and average transaction value.

Klarna's services cover hundreds of thousands of merchants, with a global user base exceeding 100 million (AP reports approximately 111 million), making it one of the key players in the BNPL sector; it is expected to price its IPO at $40 per share in the U.S. stock market in September 2025, corresponding to a valuation of approximately $15.1 billion