The CEO of the massive Swedish fintech startup Klarna, which is currently well-known in the e-commerce payments processing market and is a pioneer in the field of buy now, pay later (BNPL) payments technology, is Sebastian Siemiatkowski.

Siemiatkowski, a native of Poland, was born in Uppsala, Sweden, where his family had relocated in the early 1980s. Siemiatkowski showed an early interest in well-known businessmen like Virgin founder Richard Branson and IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad.

Siemiatkowski acknowledges his national background while attributing his career as a leader in online payments to Sweden's digital policy, which made it possible for his parents to purchase a computer by providing subsidies for computer ownership.

Creating Klarna At the age of 23, Siemiatkowski was heading towards founding Klarna as he completed his studies at the Stockholm School of Economics, where he obtained a Master's degree. Not that he had any idea where it would lead him in the end.

While working as a Burger King flipper, Siemiatkowski got to know Niklas Adalberth, one of Klarna's co-founders. Together, they founded Klarna in 2005 with Victor Jacobsson. After that, the business was introduced as a participant in a Stockholm School of Economics competition.

Siemiatkowski previously shared her reflections on the event with Forbes Europe, saying, "We pitched our idea at an innovators pitch, and they said, 'forget about it.'" It is not going to work at all. I wasn't feeling well.

Nevertheless, Siemiatkowski and associates received some much-needed encouragement from an observer who approached them during the competition.

"You know what, I don't care what those guys said," he declared. Proceed with confidence, and the banks won't comprehend what transpired. I'm still working on that task.

Siemiatkwoski may still be headed for steady growth at Klarna, but he's already been acknowledged as one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 and later Fortune's 40 Under 40, making him a billionaire and a 7% stakeholder in the business in the early 2020s.

Siemiatkowski's position as a leading fintech is virtually assured, even though Klarna's valuation has declined over the past year, similar to that of many other fintechs.

Klarna: From inception to being a top fintech
This is due to the fact that millions of people currently benefit from future payments for the goods and services they purchase online, making Siemiatkowsi the man credited with starting the BNPL shopping revolution.

But the true journey that put Klarna on the path to success started in 2007, when the company got its first round of funding from Investment AB Öresund, a venture capital firm.

With the help of this early capital, Klarna was able to launch in several European markets, including Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, in addition to its home country of Sweden.

Then, thanks to Sequoia Capital, more money was raised, which accelerated sales growth by more than 80% at the time.

By the early 2010s, Klarna was one of the fastest-growing software businesses in Europe. As it started to scale to new heights, in 2011, General Atlantic and DST Global contributed a sizeable US$155 million to the company.

After that, in 2013, Klarna combined with SOFORT AG to form Klarna Group, setting the fintech company firmly on course to grow into one of the largest companies of its kind globally. This was further confirmed when Klarna signed an exclusive cooperation agreement with Macy's in the US, which was her first venture outside of Europe.

In 2019, Klarna solidified its status as the largest financial firm in Europe by raising US$460 million for US expansion. Subsequently, the fintech received US$639 million in funding, spearheaded by SoftBank Group's Vision 2 Fund, resulting in its highest valuation to date of US$45.6 billion.

Around this same period, Siemiatkowski experienced a surge in his personal valuation to over US$2 billion before he turned 40, as Klarna increased the number of companies it partnered with to include H&M, Ticketmaster, ASOS, and Footlocker.

An international triumph for fintech

With more than 150 million active users and alliances with more than 500,000 retailers worldwide, Klarna is still at the top of the finance industry today.

Siemiatkowski is still as driven as ever to give merchants genuine partnerships rather than just services, which Klarna accomplishes with the help of its workforce of more than 5,000 employees.

Siemiatkowski is dedicated to sustaining the expansion of Klarna in the upcoming years, wanting to see the company stay at the forefront of digital innovation. And with its co-founder still leading the way, Klarna is poised to maintain its explosive growth as more and more customers learn to appreciate BNPL services.