Klarna, the popular buy now, pay later firm, faced a significant increase in losses in the first quarter of 2025. The Swedish payments startup reported a net loss of $99 million for the first three months, compared to a $47 million loss in the same period last year. This jump in losses was attributed to several one-off costs related to depreciation, share-based payments, and restructuring.
Despite the increase in losses, Klarna saw a 13% year-over-year increase in revenues, reaching $701 million. The company now boasts 100 million active users and 724,000 merchant partners globally.
Klarna’s decision to put its highly anticipated U.S. initial public offering on hold was influenced by market turbulence caused by President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. The IPO delay also affected online ticketing platform StubHub.
Prior to the postponement of its IPO, Klarna had been focusing on positioning itself as an artificial intelligence-powered fintech company. In 2023, the company partnered with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and later utilized OpenAI technology to develop an AI customer service assistant.
Recently, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski revealed that the company was able to reduce its headcount by approximately 40% through investments in AI technology.
The original article includes a video interview with Sebastian Siemiatkowski, highlighting Klarna’s journey and future plans. While the IPO plans are currently on hold, Klarna continues to innovate and adapt to market challenges.
