The parade of red-hot tech stocks to surge in their first day of trading continued on Wednesday.
Klarna shares spiked more than 30% to about $52 a share in their debut after the Swedish fintech company priced its initial public offering at $40 per share on Tuesday, the high end of its expected range.
Anticipation for the Klarna IPO was high, as investors prepared for the next blockbuster tech debut. The oversubscribed offering raised $1.37 billion for the company and its early backers.
Klarna, a titan in the buy now, pay later space, had delayed its offering earlier this year amid the market chaos induced by Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
The strong debut is the latest in a string of post-IPO surges this year as the market for initial offerings thaws for high-profile tech firms. Figma, CoreWeave, and Circle Internet Group are among the companies that have seen their stocks rally to dizzying heights in the wake of their IPOs.
“Klarna’s two decades of growth demonstrate how the steady migration toward online shopping, digital payments, and new credit models creates sustainable momentum,” Niklas Zennström, CEO and Founder of European VC firm, Atomico, said.
Phil Haslett, chief strategy officer at private company investment platform EquityZen, said that interest in the Klarna IPO was extremely high, with a large spike in interest among investors looking to gain exposure ahead of the debut.
Haslett highlighted Klarna’s potential to scale operations via artificial intelligence tools. However, he also noted that Klarna recently reduced its workforce but then hired them back when some AI tools failed to deliver. Business Insider reports that Klarna has claimed to be losing its top talent to companies with strong in-office cultures.
Despite these concerns, interest in the Klarna IPO remains extremely high as investors pile into the newest tech IPO, continuing a season of popular tech companies enjoying successful trading debuts.