London, May 19, 2025 - Klarna, the AI-powered global payments and commerce network, today announced its Q1 2025 results, unveiling consumer milestones, surging market traction, and exceptional returns from its bold AI strategy.
Q1'25 marked Klarna's fourth consecutive profitable quarter with adjusted operating profit of $3 million, a $5 million improvement year-over-year. Revenue climbed 15% on a like-for-like basis (LfL) to $701 million, with GMV up 13% LfL to $25 billion. In April 2025, Klarna reached 100 million active consumers-the fastest growth rate in two years boosted by the successful integration of Stocard users. Merchant growth accelerated 27%, as Klarna reached 724,000 merchants and welcomed 150,000 new retail partners in the quarter-more than double the previous period. Growth was supercharged by the integration with Stripe, with upcoming rollouts with JPMorgan Payments, Worldpay and Nexi expected to further expand Klarna's merchant base. Klarna's revenue take-rate continued to rise, reaching 2.77%, up from 2.71% a year earlier, while transaction margin dollars rose 6% LfLto $271 million, reinforcing the solid footing of the business model as Klarna continues to grow.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Co-founder and CEO of Klarna, said:
"The momentum is undeniable-and this is just Q1! Klarna has reached 100 million consumers and secured exclusive partnerships with major retailers like Walmart through OnePay, teamed up with DoorDash, and expanded our partnership with eBay to the U.S. after multiple successful European launches. Our AI-first strategy is driving exceptional returns, we're outpacing competitors, our merchant network is scaling rapidly, and our next-gen products are reshaping money management for millions."
Reaping the benefits of spearheading AI
Klarna is setting the standard for practical AI deployment-and the payoff is compounding fast. Since 2022, Klarna has streamlined its workforce by ~40% while raising the share of tech employees from 36% in 2022 to 52% in Q1 2025. 96% of employees use AI daily-helping drive a 152% increase in revenue per employee since Q1'23 and putting Klarna on track to reach $1 million in revenue per employee. AI is slashing costs across the business, most noticeable in customer service, where costs per transaction have dropped by 40% since Q1'23 whilst maintaining customer satisfaction levels.
Winning in the US
Klarna's U.S. momentum continues to accelerate, with revenue up 33% year-over-year. Klarna leads the market, with Pay in 4 volumes four times higher than its nearest competitor.
In the first quarter, Klarna announced it will become Walmart's exclusive provider for Fair Financing via OnePay and that it is supporting DoorDash with easier ways to Pay in Full or split larger purchases with Klarna's interest-free installments, as DoorDash expands into electronics, big-box retail, and gifts. Klarna also expanded its partnership with eBay to the U.S. after multiple successful European launches.
Winning across all 26 markets
Klarna continues to gain ground across all its other 25 markets. In the UK-Klarna's third-largest market-GMV rose 35% year-over-year, as Klarna cemented its place as a household name. More than 60,000 merchants now offer Klarna at checkout, including eBay, John Lewis and, most recently, Eurostar.
In Southern Europe, Klarna is scaling fast, with transaction margin dollars up 5x year-over-year in Q1'25, as GMV soared 122% in Greece alone. Italians are embracing Klarna: 1 in 10 are now active Klarna consumers, and we've secured partnerships with 40 of the top 100 merchants in Spain.
Even in mature markets, Klarna usage continues to grow. In Sweden, Klarna's role in everyday spending keeps deepening and purchase frequency is on the rise - up 10%, driven by a 44% lift in Klarna Card usage.
In Germany, new Klarna Card users are highly engaged-making nearly 100 more purchases in their first year as Klarna becomes an everyday spending partner.
In parallel to signing massive deals, Klarna is also launching new products, expanding its neobanking offering globally. Klarna's Cashback and Balance tools have seen rapid adoption, proving Klarna's fresh, intuitive approach to money management is resonating at scale.
Notes
Unless otherwise indicated, all figures, including period-over-period changes, give effect to the disposal of KCO (completed 31st October 2024). Like-for-like changes, transaction margin dollars and adjusted operating income are non-IFRS measures. For more details, including reconciliations to the most comparable IFRS measure, see our report.
