Klarna: The Unicorn that Conquered Europe

Sebastian Siemiatkowski and Niklas Adalberth's story will sooner or later become a film. For sure, because one of the fastest biz of recent times thoroughly deserves it. “Legend” has it that in 2005, Sebastian was still a young guy working at Burger King, spending his days at the conveyor belt cooking burgers to finish paying for his studies at the Stockholm School of Economics. Niklas was working on the same assembly line. The two became friends and, as each day passed, they came up with the idea that soon after gave rise to the “unicorn” Klarna, one of Europe's most widely quoted fintechs, now worth several billion. It is currently one of Europe's largest banks: 4,000 employees, 2 million transactions a day, providing payment solutions to 90 million users through 250,000 dealers in 17 countries. These include Italy, with a portfolio of over 1,200 companies and 97% coverage of home banking portals within the country. The services that have decreed the company's rapid rise are as simple as they are convenient: online purchases can paid in instalments, even after delivery.