Klarna is betting massive on AI to scale its enterprise and form its model because it debuts on the general public market.
Chief Advertising Officer David Sandstrom advised ADWEEK that AI is now embedded throughout workflows, and helps drive $1 million in income per worker.
“After we first began with AI, it was extra like a celebration trick,” Sandstrom stated, including that AI is now central to Klarna’s day by day operations, powering every little thing from analyzing buyer evaluations to designing advert campaigns, as the corporate is aggressively increasing its AI capabilities.
“The ambition at Klarna to guide AI and AI improvement is greater than ever,” Sandstrom stated.
Klarna began buying and selling publicly on the New York Inventory Alternate on Wednesday, climbing almost 15% in its debut and valuing the funds agency at almost $20 billion.
Based almost 20 years in the past, Klarna earns income by taking a small lower of transactions processed via its cost instruments, and from curiosity on longer-term loans and late charges.
Klarna solely entered the U.S. in 2019 however has since constructed a buyer base of 111 million, with purchase now, pay later and different monetary merchandise provided via roughly 790,000 retailers, in keeping with its SEC filings. Over the 12 months ended June 30, the corporate dealt with $112 billion in transactions.
Klarna reported a Q2 lack of $53 million, up from an $18 million loss a yr in the past, whereas income grew 20% to $823 million.
AI on the core
Sandstrom advised ADWEEK that Klarna’s total advertising technique will proceed to make use of AI.
The fintech agency has leaned closely on the know-how to chop prices—trimming advertising spend by 12% final yr whereas lowering reliance on businesses—a pattern Sandstrom says has solely accelerated. Use of AI-driven content material manufacturing in its advertising workforce has elevated asset output by 600%, Sandstrom stated.
