Cilene V.’s Post

🎂 A double celebration today - my #39 birthday and Klarna unveiling a ⭐ stellar performance in the 2024 Q1 earnings release! Thrilled to witness 🚀 growth on all fronts! At Klarna 📈 Globally, revenue +29%, gross profit +22%, and another quarter of positive adj. operating income! 🇺🇸 In the US, our biggest market, revenue +38% YoY, and gross profit 🤯 +97%! 🧠 Artificial Intelligence continues to make a huge impact in driving efficiency across the board. 9 out of 10 employees use AI on daily basis, confirming Klarna's AI pioneering role in fintech and banking. On personal side 👦 Age increased 1 YoY, but down 5 excluding FX. In real terms, I am still young! #klarna #earnings #fintech #finance #artificialintelligence #ai #leadership

How would your morale be, working every day for a guy whose mission is to fire you? This situation with #Klarna illustrates the contrast between the idealized view of companies as places of mutual bonding and shared goals, and the reality of corporate pragmatism. The illusion breaks down when your leadership is explicitly focused on reducing the workforce the most they can, as fast as possible and showing so much pride in doing it. To be fair, Klarna was always a mess of a company. Here's a summary of what this company became known for over the years: - Unprofitable Unit Economics – BNPL is a terrible Business Model. Klarna struggles with consistent profitability due to thin margins and high operational costs. - Aggressive expansion – Rapid growth particularly in the U.S. led to impressive losses and high operating expenses. - Credit risk and refaults – Concerns about rising default rates as Klarna lends to financially stretched consumers. - Misleading marketing – Accused of downplaying the risks of debt and promoting irresponsible consumer spending. - False profitability claims – Made claims of profitability that were contradicted by subsequent financial losses. - No path to profitability – Reliance on transaction and late fees, with no solid long-term plan for sustainable profit. - Overinflated valuation – Valuation surged during #fintech hype, then dropped by over 85%, raising concerns about overvaluation. - Regulatory scrutiny – Increased oversight from regulators due to concerns about consumer protection and lending practices. He could fire 99% of staff and he still wouldn't make this thing work, because the problem is not the employees. https://lnkd.in/ekHUphd6 #klarna #AI #IA #BNPL

This moment is much more historic than most realise... Klarna is one of Europe's most valuable fintech companies, and their upcoming IPO (in the US) is going to be more consequential than any IPO in history... Why? • Not because of Europe, and the very sad indictment of the continents failings to retain homegrown success-stories; • Not because of IPO Markets, even after a sluggish three years and with this representing a major break of silence for the IPO market, particularly in FinTech; • But in fact because, as surprising as it is, this IPO is the first of its kind where AI has catalysed ground-breaking growth for a soon-to-be public company. Within this year alone, AI has: • Replaced two-thirds of Klarna's customer service functions; • Took over the work of 700 full-time agent roles at Klarna; • Integrated with 90% of Klarna's workforce daily tasks; and • Allowing Klarna to potentially halve its entire workforce... There's been no shortage of "naysayers" to AI. I wonder how the market will react to this...

Klarna aims to extend artificial intelligence-driven cuts to its workforce with plans to axe almost half of its staff, as the lossmaking Swedish buy now, pay later company gears up for a stock market flotation. Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski heralded the benefits of AI in Klarna’s second-quarter results on Tuesday, which showed a significant narrowing of its net loss from SKr854mn ($84mn) a year earlier to SKr10mn. The Swedish fintech has already cut its workforce from 5,000 to 3,800 in the past year. Siemiatkowski told the Financial Times that Klarna could employ as few as 2,000 employees in the coming years as it uses AI in tasks such as customer service and marketing. “Not only can we do more with less, but we can do much more with less. Internally, we speak directionally about 2,000 [employees]. We don’t want to put a specific deadline on that,” he added. Siemiatkowski has become one of the most outspoken European tech bosses about the benefits of AI, even if it leads to lower employment, arguing that is an issue for governments to worry about. What experiences have you had personally or observed in your (or any other company’s) workplace? #SocietalAI #AI4Everyone #workplaceculture #augmentedintelligence #humanandAI #4IR

On Tuesday, Swedish FinTech company Klarna announced the results from its first month using a globally available AI assistant. The numbers are staggering. Per the press release: - The AI assistant has had 2.3 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, two-thirds of Klarna's customer service chats - It is doing the equivalent work of 700 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 - It is on par with human agents in regard to customer satisfaction score - It is more accurate in errand resolution, leading to a 25% 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 - Customers now resolve their errands in 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 2 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 11 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 - It's available in 23 markets, 24/7, and 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 35 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 - It's estimated to 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚 $40 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐒𝐃 in profit improvement to Klarna in 2024 The notion that the AI is doing the work of 700 full-time agents is interesting. In mid-2022, Klarna laid off the same number of people. If you remember, it made the news because the CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, announced the layoffs in a pre-recorded Zoom message. Klarna maintains the 700-person figures are a coincidence, and I tend to believe them - I doubt they could have known their AI agent would work so well so quickly. But it also raises an important consideration as we're forced to grapple with how to retrain and retask a workforce sure to be disrupted by AI. At the very least, I would have left that stat out of the press release! Stats and Image from Klarna. Full press release in the comments.

🚀 𝐊𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚'𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐲 𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐏𝐚𝐲 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 (𝐁𝐍𝐏𝐋) 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞. After a challenging period and making tough decisions, including layoffs, Klarna is not just staging a comeback; it's leading the future of shopping with cutting-edge AI technology. This sets the scene for what's shaping up to be the blockbuster IPO of 2024. Here’s a snapshot of Klarna’s remarkable turnaround and strategic milestones (thanks to Linas Beliūnas for this data): 1️⃣ 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬: Klarna's impressive 17% growth in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) has remarkably outstripped global eCommerce growth by seven times. This isn’t just a comeback; it’s a testament to a restructured business model that’s paying dividends. 2️⃣ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠: The journey from a $1B net loss in 2022 to a significantly reduced $241M loss in 2023, coupled with a revenue surge to $2.3B. A gross profit margin of 50%, up 12 percentage points. 3️⃣ 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐞: Klarna's bold move into AI, particularly with its ChatGPT-powered assistant handling 70% of customer inquiries, reflects a strategic pivot to enhance efficiency and leverage AI capabilities, despite the controversy over its impact on employment. Klarna’s ambition extends well beyond revamping its financial and operational frameworks. Its evolution into a Super App, offering a suite of services from banking to a unique commerce search engine and shoppable content, cements its position as the ultimate future shopping destination, aspiring to be the "Google of Shopping." 📣 For eCommerce stores yet to adopt BNPL, the message is clear: integrating options like Klarna isn't just an upgrade—it's essential to stay competitive in today's market. #EmerceConsulting #Klarna #FinTech #BNPL #AI #Ecommerce #IPO2024

Exciting development from Klarna as they aim to streamline operations with a workforce cut to 2,000 by 2025. * This move showcases Klarna's strategic focus on efficiency and optimization. * Reduction in headcount could lead to increased productivity and innovation within the company. Looking ahead, this transformation could pave the way for even more disruptive innovations in the fintech industry. * Insightful analysis by FXC Intelligence highlights Klarna's commitment to staying competitive. Stay tuned for how this shift in workforce dynamics will impact Klarna's trajectory in the burgeoning fintech landscape. * Connect with me at +17625005002 to delve deeper into this intriguing development. * Join the conversation on fintech transformations with #FintechInnovation #PaymentGatewayEvolution.

#SecondaryOpportunity | Everyone's heard about Klarna – but it's no longer just the go-to for "buy now, pay later." Klarna is now a profitable, innovative fintech with global reach, ready for its next leap. "We want to become the world’s favorite way to shop," says co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski. In the first half of 2024, Klarna’s revenue rose 27% year-on-year to €1.13 billion, with an adjusted operating profit of €57.2 million – a major turnaround from last year’s losses. The US market has been a key driver, with 38% revenue growth, expanding Klarna’s global footprint. At SeedBlink, we're offering an exclusive secondary investment opportunity in Klarna, that recently filed for US-IPO.  ⏰ This opportunity is time-sensitive, closing soon. Explore it today - https://lnkd.in/dYRdUtaj https://lnkd.in/dehqsxm4

Klarna post a bunch about how they were able to reduce headcount by implementing AI. All good, but what if you're already a small team? We're 16 (+1 soon, watch this space 😅) and we were already efficient before AI (we scaled to revenue numbers I'm really happy about with a team of zero sales people... entirely founder sales). But when we deployed our Security Form Agent (CQA) internally, we were suddenly able to close multiple deals in parallel while REDUCING the number of feedback rounds with prospects' security teams. Removing this kind of bottleneck is table stakes for an early stage, high growth company. If you don't fix it, growth acceleration will slow. No matter how great your sales engine, you'll be capped at closing a finite number of deals per month. For larger companies, removing this kind of bottleneck can be a throwback to the glory days, before systems, structures, and processes spoiled the party. It's not all an efficiency game of reducing headcount. Far from it. It's an opportunity to accelerate growth and maximise deal speed. Our agents can, in the words of Verity Sparling, "change your life".

Klarna, the Swedish fintech giant, is gearing up for a blockbuster IPO later this year with a projected $20 billion valuation. As a leader in payments, shopping, and banking, Klarna's innovative buy now, pay later (BNPL) model has propelled it to new heights. With AI integration, Klarna has optimised operations, slashing costs, and enhancing customer service. Don't miss out on this game-changing opportunity! 🔵 Operates in the fintech industry, specifically providing buy now pay later services. 🔵 It has millions of customers worldwide. 🔵 Utilised chatbots powered by artificial intelligence to automate tasks and cut down on operating expenses. #Klarna #Fintech #AI #IPO #Fintech #Innovation