Klarna partners with fellow fintech Adyen to bring buy now, pay later into physical stores
“Buy-now, pay-later” firm Klarna aims to return to profit by summer 2023.
Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Swedish firm Klarna is partnering up with Dutch payments fintech Adyen to bring its popular buy now, pay later service into physical retail stores.
The company said Thursday that it had entered into an agreement with Adyen to add its payments products as an option at physical payment machines used by the Amsterdam-based fintech’s merchant partners.
Klarna will be included as an option across more than 450,000 Adyen payment terminals in brick-and-mortar locations as a result of the deal, according to the companies. The partnership will initially launch in Europe, North America and Australia with a wider rollout planned later down the line.
Klarna’s buy now, pay later, or BNPL, service allows users to spread the cost of their purchases over a period of interest-free installments. The service is mostly associated with online shopping, which currently accounts for about 5% of the global e-commerce market, according to Klarna.
Targeting consumers in-store has become an increasingly important priority as Klarna and other firms in the sector such as Block‘s Afterpay, Affirm, Zip, Sezzle, and Zilch seek to expand their reach.
The move expands on a previous arrangement Klarna had in place with Adyen on e-commerce payments.
“We want consumers to be able to pay with Klarna at any checkout, anywhere,” David Sykes, chief commercial officer at Klarna, said in a statement Thursday.
“Our strong partnership with Adyen gives a massive boost to our ambition to bring flexible payments to the high street in a new way.”
Adyen’s head of EMEA, Alexa von Bismarck, said the deal was about giving consumers flexibility at checkout, adding that “consumers care deeply about the in-store touch point and value brands which can allow them to pay how they want.”
Earlier this year, Klarna sold Klarna Checkout, the company’s online checkout solution for merchants. This saw the firm compete less directly with payment gateways including the likes of Adyen, Stripe, and Checkout.com.
Klarna’s deal with Adyen comes as the Swedish tech giant is exploring a much-anticipated initial public offering.
Klarna hasn’t yet set a fixed timeline on when it expects to go public, however the firm’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC earlier this year that a 2024 IPO for the business wouldn’t be “impossible.”
In August, Klarna began rolling out a checking account-like product, called Klarna balance, as well as cashback rewards in a bid to convince consumers to move more of their financial lives over to its platform.
BNPL has faced criticisms from consumer rights campaigners, however, over fears it promotes the idea of consumers spending more than they can afford. Regulators are pushing for rules to bring the nascent — but fast-growing — payment method into regulation.
The recently elected U.K. Labour government is expected to set out plans for buy now, pay later regulation soon.
City Minister Tulip Siddiq said in July that the government would establish new proposals “shortly” after multiples delays to the previous Conservative government’s regulation plans for BNPL.
A Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar electric vehicle sits parked at an EVgo charging station in Los Angeles, California, on May 15, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Waymo said it will begin testing in Philadelphia, with a limited fleet of vehicles and human safety drivers behind the wheel.
“This city is a National Treasure,” Waymo wrote in a post on X on Monday. “It’s a city of love, where eagles fly with a gritty spirit and cheese that spreads and cheese that steaks. Our road trip continues to Philly next.”
The Alphabet-owned company confirmed to CNBC that it will be testing in Pennsylvania’s largest city through the fall, adding that the initial fleet of cars will be manually driven through the more complex parts of Philadelphia, including downtown and on freeways.
“Folks will see our vehicles driving at all hours throughout various neighborhoods, from North Central to Eastwick, and from University City to as far east as the Delaware River,” a Waymo spokesperson said.
With its so-called road trips, Waymo seeks to collect mapping data and evaluate how its autonomous technology, Waymo Driver, performs in new environments, handling traffic patterns and local infrastructure. Road trips are often used a way for the company to gauge whether it can potentially offer a paid ride share service in a particular location.
The expanded testing, which will go through the fall, comes as Waymo aims for a broader rollout. Last month, the company announced plans to drive vehicles manually in New York for testing, marking the first step toward potentially cracking the largest U.S. city. Waymo applied for a permit with the New York City Department of Transportation to operate autonomously with a trained specialist behind the wheel in Manhattan. State law currently doesn’t allow for such driverless operations.
Waymo One provides more than 250,000 paid trips each week across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas, and is preparing to bring fully autonomous rides to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C., in 2026.
Alphabet has been under pressure to monetize artificial intelligence products as it bolsters spending on infrastructure. Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which includes Waymo, brought in revenue of $1.65 billion in 2024, up from $1.53 billion in 2023. However, the segment lost $4.44 billion last year, compared to a loss of $4.09 billion the previous year.
Technology
Trump advisor Navarro rips Apple’s Tim Cook for not moving production out of China fast enough
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro chastised Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday over the company’s response to pressure from the Trump administration to make more of its products outside of China.
“Going back to the first Trump term, Tim Cook has continually asked for more time in order to move his factories out of China,” Navarro said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I mean it’s the longest-running soap opera in Silicon Valley.”
CNBC has reached out to Apple for comment on Navarro’s criticism.
President Donald Trump has in recent months ramped up demands for Apple to move production of its iconic iPhone to the U.S. from overseas. Apple’s flagship phone is produced primarily in China, but the company has increasingly boosted production in India, partly to avoid the higher cost of Trump’s tariffs.
Trump in May warned Apple would have to pay a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones made outside the U.S. In separate remarks, Trump said he told Cook, “I don’t want you building in India.”
Analysts and supply chain experts have argued it would be impossible for Apple to completely move iPhone production to the U.S. By some estimates, a U.S.-made iPhone could cost as much as $3,500.
Navarro said Cook isn’t shifting production out of China quickly enough.
“With all these new advanced manufacturing techniques and the way things are moving with AI and things like that, it’s inconceivable to me that Tim Cook could not produce his iPhones elsewhere around the world and in this country,” Navarro said.
Apple currently makes very few products in the U.S. During Trump’s first term, Apple extended its commitment to assemble the $3,000 Mac Pro in Texas.
In February, Apple said it would spend $500 billion within the U.S., including on assembling some AI servers.
WATCH: Apple’s $500 billion investment: For AI servers not manufacturing iPhones
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