Klarna is betting big on AI to scale its business and shape its brand as it debuts on the public market.
Chief Marketing Officer David Sandstrom told ADWEEK that AI is now embedded across workflows, and is helping drive $1 million in revenue per employee.
“When we first started with AI, it was more like a party trick,” Sandstrom said, adding that AI is now central to Klarna’s daily operations, powering everything from analyzing customer reviews to designing ad campaigns, as the company is aggressively expanding its AI capabilities.
“The ambition at Klarna to lead AI and AI development is bigger than ever,” Sandstrom said.
Klarna started trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, climbing nearly 15% in its debut and valuing the payments firm at nearly $20 billion.
Founded nearly 20 years ago, Klarna earns revenue by taking a small cut of transactions processed through its payment tools, and from interest on longer-term loans and late fees.
Klarna only entered the U.S. in 2019 but has since built a customer base of 111 million, with buy now, pay later and other financial products offered through roughly 790,000 merchants, according to its SEC filings. Over the 12 months ended June 30, the company handled $112 billion in transactions.
Klarna reported a Q2 loss of $53 million, up from an $18 million loss a year ago, while revenue grew 20% to $823 million.
AI at the core
Sandstrom told ADWEEK that Klarna’s overall marketing strategy will continue to use AI.
The fintech firm has leaned heavily on the technology to cut costs—trimming marketing spend by 12% last year while reducing reliance on agencies—a trend Sandstrom says has only accelerated. Use of AI-driven content production in its marketing team has increased asset output by 600%, Sandstrom said.
