Finance & economics | Smooth shopping

Klarna, a Swedish payments unicorn, wants to conquer America

The “buy now, pay later” firm has grown rapidly

Snoop’s into it
|STOCKHOLM

“AS A CHILD, when you see your parents struggling, it creates a drive,” says Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the chief executive and co-founder of Klarna, an online-payment-processing firm. His family moved to Sweden from Poland in 1981, the year he was born; his university-educated father was unemployed for long spells or just got by behind the wheel of a cab. The experience nurtured a strong ambition “to fix the economy for the family”.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Smooth shopping”

Suddenly, hope

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