Wirecard Partners With Klarna For Payments

German payments company Wirecard said on Thursday (March 11) that it is partnering with Sweden’s FinTech startup Klarna for integrated payments.

The collaboration will bring three digital payment methods — Pay Now, Pay Later and Klarna Financing — to merchants’ checkout process on Wirecard’s commerce platform.

“We are proud to team up with Wirecard to combine the best of our offerings into a single solution,” said Luke Griffiths, commercial vice president at Klarna. “Our joint partnership will enhance both the merchant and end-customer experiences while expanding our footprint to more geographies. We are looking forward to launching this attractive solution on a global scale.”

The integration will be available in nine markets — Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Netherland and the United Kingdom — with the U.S., Australia and others being added throughout 2020.

“Shoppers seek, above all, a frictionless shopping journey,” said Kilian Thalhammer, executive vice president product management at Wirecard. “Together with Klarna, we will give shoppers exactly that: a hassle-free shopping experience, on their terms. Merchants will also benefit from a more streamlined and efficient integration — meaning that merchants and shoppers are that much closer to their ideal checkout experience. We are happy to join forces with Klarna.”

Founded in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson, Klarna pays merchants upfront and offers an alternative to credit cards. It is Europe’s most valuable FinTech, valued at $5.5 billion following a $460 million investment in August. The firm has raised a total of $1.2 billion.

Wirecard was founded in 1999 and trades on the German stock exchange. Its subsidiary, Wirecard Bank AG, has banking licenses in Germany as well as Visa and Mastercard.

Klarna said it adds six million new customers each year. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said its target customers are millennials from the U.S. and U.K. He noted that 70 percent of millennials in the U.S. only have debit cards, not credit cards.