Klarna IPO filing spurs hope for British listings

Klarna’s US initial public offering next month could help unlock a pipeline of British fintech flotations after a barren period for new technology listings, investors, lawyers and an executive told Reuters.

- CHARLIE CONCHIE

Stockholm-headquartered Klarna, best known for its buy-now pay-later products, publicly filed to float on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month in its second attempt at listing on the public markets in four years.

It had looked to IPO in 2021, after shooting from a valuation of $5.5 billion to $45.6 billion in three funding rounds. But investors soured on tech companies as interest rates rose and economies stuttered, and the company was forced to cut its valuation to $6.7 billion in a 2022 fundraising.

Now it is back and could be worth at least $15 billion in an IPO likely to be priced in the first half of April, one person with knowledge of the plans said.

"Any successful IPO of a high-profile business in the sector will be a catalyst for others to look again at an IPO as a strategic option for growth and/or liquidity," said James Wootton, a partner at Linklaters, who advised money transfer company Wise on its 2021 listing in London.

At the peak of a post-pandemic fundraising boom in 2021, 101 fintech companies raised $296.86 billion via IPOs on global stock markets, according to data from PitchBook, compiled for Reuters. But between 2022 and 2024, just 86 firms raised $32.76 billion via IPOs. Klarna’s plans have fuelled hopes of a resurgence.