Klarna Surpasses 12M Transactions This Year

FinTech payments disruptor Klarna has announced the start of its “No drama, just Klarna” retail campaign in partnership with 13 brands in the U.K., the company said in a press release on Wednesday (Sept. 25).

Klarna offers “pay later” payment options and attracts 50,000 new users each week. The startup said that in the past year, it has processed 12 million transactions. In August, more than 100,000 U.K. shoppers downloaded the Klarna app.

“The growth we’ve seen since launching in the U.K. has been astounding, but I’m particularly proud of what we’ve been able to achieve in the last 12 months. Not only have we grown exponentially in terms of volumes and partners, but we’ve also grown our footprint across the U.K. with the launch of our Manchester office earlier this year,” said Luke Griffiths, general manager at Klarna in the U.K.

The “No drama, just Klarna” campaign features retail-branded artwork on buses, billboards and screens.

“The latest campaign really brings to life the team mentality that we share with Klarna, and shows how holistically the business thinks about its customers,” said Donna Storey, global digital and marketing director at Mothercare. “We wanted to work with someone who recognized that payments were part of our wider drive to give shoppers a better experience across channels, not simply a different box to click at the till, and Klarna has absolutely delivered on that.”

Klarna is also partnering with U.K. retailers to “further integrate the experience between digital and physical stores.” The goal is to offer users a customized shopping and payments journey.

In August, Klarna notched $460 million in an equity funding round at a $5.5 billion post-money valuation. The new valuation ranks Klarna as the biggest European private FinTech and one of the largest private FinTechs around the world.

“​This is a decisive time in the history of retail banking. Finally, transparency, technology and creativity will serve the consumer, and there will be no more room for unimaginative products, non-transparent terms of use or lack of genuine care of one’s customers,” Klarna CEO and Co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in an Aug. 6 press release.