Today (November 18), Klarna announced its first quarterly earnings as a listed company. The fintech giant, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in September, is growing rapidly as it leans toward artificial intelligence and looks to expand beyond its buy now, pay later (BNPL) services into more traditional banking products.
Klarna’s revenue for the July-September period was $903 million, beating Wall Street expectations and growing 26% year-over-year. In the United States, its largest market, sales increased 51% year-on-year.
The company also reported growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV), an e-commerce metric that measures the value of goods sold. GMW in this quarter increased by 23% year-on-year to US$32.7 billion. One area of dismay was net profit, which jumped to $95 million compared with $12 million in the same period in 2024. Klarna attributed the decline in part to changes in accounting principles.
There has also been an increase in demand for Klarna’s ‘fair finance’ option, which allows customers to spread payments for large purchases over a longer period. During the quarter, U.S. GMV for this product grew 244%, while global GMV grew 139%. Fair financing is now available to 151,000 merchants, accounting for 18% of Klarna’s total merchants.
Klarna is still best known for its BNPL service, but the company aims to “move from payments to a full neobank,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said on the company’s earnings call. Neobanks are fintech companies that provide banking services without physical branches, such as Chime or Revolut.
In July, Klarna launched the ‘Klarna Card’, a payment card that combines BNPL functionality with a traditional debit card. The product has gained more than 4 million registered users and accounted for 15% of Klarna’s global transaction volume as of October, according to Siemiatkowski.
Klarna slows hiring, driven by AI
Klarna is also using artificial intelligence to enter new areas. As an early adopter, the company has adopted the technology for personal shopping, internal productivity tools, and even a Siemiatkowski AI avatar that can demonstrate benefits.
AI has also transformed customer service: Klarna, an AI assistant launched last year, now supports more than 850 full-time employees and has saved the company $60 million, Siemiatkowski said. He added that Klarna “didn’t think recruiting was the right approach at the moment” due in part to increased efficiency.
That doesn’t mean CEOs don’t care about the impact of AI on workers. While blue-collar jobs are typically vulnerable during recessions, Simyatkovsky warned that AI could more severely impact “high-income households and white-collar jobs.” He said he was watching unemployment trends closely to see how the technology might impact consumers who rely on Klarna.
