After a long journey, the 20-year-old fintech company Klarna has finally reached its initial public offering. The company successfully landed on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, having raised $1.4 billion. This capital raise was largely for its existing investors rather than for Klarna itself.
The fintech giant sold its shares at $40, which was above its announced price range of $35 to $37. This gave the company a $15 billion valuation at the opening. Shares experienced a pop, opening at $52 before quickly settling down to around $46 by mid-day.
Of the 34.3 million shares Klarna sold, only 5 million were sold by the company. The rest were sold by existing investors, including the company’s largest shareholder, Sequoia Capital. Entities controlled by Dutch billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, Silver Lake, and BlackRock also sold shares. Despite cashing out, all of these investors are holding onto the majority of their stakes.
This strategy is similar to what Figma did with its IPO. A venture capitalist explained that often these existing investors do not want to sell at the IPO price. They contribute shares to help the company meet IPO demand. Floating more shares helps the company obtain a more accurate, and perhaps higher, valuation by attracting large institutional investors who would not bother with a small allocation.
In Klarna’s case, co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski did not sell any of his shares. His stake was worth $1.02 billion at the IPO price of $40, and he controls about 7.5% of the company. Victor Jacobsson, the co-founder who left the company in 2012, did sell 1.1 million shares but remains a slightly larger shareholder, retaining over 8% of the company. Co-founder Niklas Adalberth still owns just under 3 million shares.
Sequoia is by far the biggest investor in Klarna, controlling nearly 23% of the company. Famed VC Michael Moritz wrote Klarna’s first check on Sequoia’s behalf in 2010 and stayed on as Klarna’s chairperson even after he left Sequoia in 2023. Some boardroom drama ensued when Sequoia attempted to add another member to the board, but it was sorted out when Sequoia’s Andrew Reed joined in 2024.
CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski shared that the moment feels surreal. He reflected on starting Klarna in 2005 as a wild idea with his co-founders, fumbling around to make shopping and payments smoother. He noted they were rejected and laughed at countless times but kept going. He stated that going public in New York is not just a milestone but a statement and proof that stubborn dreamers from Stockholm can take on the world and win.
Interestingly, the $1.4 billion raised is not the record for the biggest IPO of 2025. That record is still held by CoreWeave, which raised $1.5 billion in June.