Fintech unicorns are watching Klarna's debut for signs of when IPO window will reopen
LISBON, Portugal — Financial technology unicorns aren't in a rush to go public after buy now, pay later firm Klarna filed for a U.S. IPO — but they're keeping a watchful eye on it for signs of when the market will open up again.
Last week, Klarna made a confidential filing to go public in the U.S., ending months of speculation over where the Swedish digital payments firm would list. Timing of the IPO is still unclear, and Klarna has yet to decide on pricing or the number of shares it'll issue to the public.
Still, the development drew buzz from fintech circles with market watchers asking if the move marks the start of a resurgence in big fintech IPOs. For now, that doesn't appear to be the case — however, founders say they'll be watching the IPO market, eyeing pricing and eventually stock performance.
Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO of online payments startup GoCardless, said last week that it's not yet time for his company to fire the starting gun on an IPO. He views listing as more of a milestone on a journey than an end goal.
«The markets have been challenging over the last few years,» Takeuchi, whose business GoCardless was last valued at over $2 billion, said in a CNBC-moderated panel at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal.
«We need to be focused on building a better business,» Takeuchi added, noting that «the rest will follow» if the startup gets that right. GoCardless specializes in recurring payments, transactions that come out of a consumer's bank account in a routine fashion — such as a monthly donation to charity.
Lucy Liu, co-founder of cross-border payments firm Airwallex, agreed with Takeuchi and said it's also not the right time for Airwallex to go public. In a separate interview, Liu directed CNBC to
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