Klarna, a buy now pay later platform, posted 4th quarter and full year 2022 results yesterday. Pointing to a challenging market, Klarna shared that it had lost SEK 10.4 billion (about $1 billion) for the year and lost SEK 1.9 billion (about $182 million) during Q4 2022. The year-over-year numbers were a bit better as Klarna said it generated SEK 242 billion in Q4 2022 versus SEK 202.7 billion in Q4 2021. Klarna lost SEK 4.6 billion during Q4 2021.
Klarna stated in its report:
“2022 has been a year of significant change in the global political and economic environment. The ongoing war in Ukraine and the threat, and in some cases reality, of economic recession have impacted us all in some way. The accompanying shift in investor sentiment from a total focus on growth to profitability has also had wide-ranging effects. At Klarna, it has required some hard but necessary decisions. The most difficult by far was taking early and pre-emptive action back in May, re-evaluating our organization and our focus so we could meet our goals in light of the changes we were seeing externally. As a result, 10% of our committed and talented Klarnauts left our company, and we have since seen many tech companies sadly have to make similar decisions to adapt to this new environment. However, we are proud to have been recognized as a strong and resilient company with continued investor support, as evidenced by our ability to raise over $800m during one of the steepest drops in global stock markets in over fifty years. This is supporting Klarna’s continued growth, especially in the US. Despite the challenges 2022 brought, Klarna continues to deliver on our mission to accelerate commerce by putting customers at the heart of everything we do. We have continued to build and launch awesome products and services that address real-world problems consumers and retailers face, making us an intrinsic part of people’s daily lives, saving them time and money and reducing worry.”
Klarna raised the additional capital in a difficult environment while taking a significant haircut in its valuation as it raised money at a post money valuation of $6.7 billion. Previously Klarna raised funds valued at $45.6 billion.
In its report, Klarna focused on its growth, stating it added 34 million US customers during the year, now totaling 150 global users.
Total revenue for 2o22 was reported at SEK 16.7 billion, a good increase from 2021 when revenue arrived at SEK 13.9 billion.
Going forward, the US market is predicted to be a key driver of growth, and Klarna expects to continue to offer new and improved services during 2023.
Klarna was founded in 2005 in Sweden and has been a fully licensed bank since 2017. The Fintech is active in 45 markets.
Klarna stated:
“We will continue to invest in our products and services including the Klarna app, Card, bank accounts, open banking and our marketing services to create a strong platform for future growth as the shopping destination of the future.”