5 Fintechs Poised for IPO After Klarna

Following Swedish payments giant Klarna’s impressive $17 billion IPO, all eyes are on which high-growth fintech will be next to test the public markets.

Klarna’s stock initially surged by as much as 30% during its New York IPO debut, eventually settling to close approximately 15% higher. While the stock has since experienced some volatility, trading around $42.92 by Friday, it remains approximately 7% above its initial IPO price of $40, a testament to initial investor confidence.

This successful debut serves as a signal that Wall Street’s appetite for significant fintech listings is resurging, marking a potentially pivotal shift after a period of relative IPO hesitancy in the tech sector. Prior to Klarna, platforms such as eToro, stablecoin issuer Circle, and crypto exchange Bullish also met with positive market reception upon going public, further reinforcing this upward trend.

Gemini, the Winklevoss twins’ crypto exchange, echoed this sentiment with a 14% surge during its Nasdaq IPO debut on Friday, adding further momentum to the fintech IPO wave.

“The Klarna IPO is a positive sign for many other scaled-up vendors,” according to Gautam Pillai, Head of Fintech Research at Peel Hunt. “It demonstrates that there is investor demand for well-established fintech companies with strong growth potential, even in a volatile macroeconomic environment.”

Consequently, a robust pipeline of fintech companies could be next to consider going public following Klarna’s lead. Here, CNBC analyzes the most promising contenders:

For years, Stripe, the digital payments powerhouse, has been a leading candidate for an IPO. Despite being founded 15 years ago, Stripe has remained privately held, with co-founders and brothers John and Patrick Collison resisting pressure to take the business public.

However, a potential listing has remained in the cards. In 2023, the Collison brothers informed employees that Stripe would decide between launching an IPO or facilitating a secondary offering for employee shares within the following year.

Ultimately, Stripe opted for a secondary share sale in January, valuing the company at $91.5 billion, rebounding back to figures around its peak valuation of $95 billion attained in 2021.

Despite this, a potential IPO is not entirely off the table. Many fintech unicorn CEOs have been closelyobserving Klarna’s performance for signs that market conditions are becoming more conducive to successful listings. Stripe’s future IPO plans likely depend on sustained positive market sentiment and the company’s continued growth trajectory. From a technical standpoint, Stripe has been investing heavily in its platform’s scalability and security to meet the demands of public-market investors. The company’s API-first approach and developer-friendly ecosystem have positioned it as a critical infrastructure provider for internet commerce, bolstering its long-term growth prospects.

Digital banking platform Revolut is another potential fintech IPO candidate. The unicorn recently offered employees the opportunity to sell shares on the secondary market, reaching a $75 billion valuation, surpassing several major UK-based banks in market capitalization.

“As part of our commitment to our employees, we regularly provide opportunities for them to access liquidity,” said a Revolut spokesperson. “An employee secondary share sale is currently in process, and we won’t be commenting further until it is complete.”

This secondary round provides Revolut with the luxury of remaining private for longer, while still allowing staff to realize some of their holdings. The move also solidifies Revolut’s position as one of the world’s most valuable privately-held fintech firms. The US appears to be the most likely listing destination at this stage. Co-founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky has openly expressed a preference for listing in the US, citing issues with the London IPO market. Specifically, concerns regarding valuation and the regulatory framework have been cited as deterrents. Storonsky stated last year that pursuing a UK public listing was not a “rational” decision, highlighting the perceived advantages of the US market for high-growth tech companies. Revolut’s diverse product offerings, ranging from traditional banking services to cryptocurrency trading, may position it to attract a broader investor base in the US market.

Having recently reached a $5.9 billion valuation in a secondary share sale, British digital bank Monzo is another contender for the public markets.

A report surfaced earlier this year from Sky News that said Monzo had lined up bankers to work on an IPO that could take place as early as the first half of 2026.

However, in a fireside discussion moderated by CNBC at SXSW London, Monzo CEO TS Anil said that an IPO is “not the thing we’re focused on right now” — it’s worth noting though that this was back in June.

“The thing we’re focused on is scale the business, continue to grow it, double it again, reach more customers, build more products, continue to drive great economic outcomes on the back of that,” Anil said at the time.

Monzo’s rapid customer acquisition and focus on providing seamless user banking experiences can attract a broad investor base during a potential IPO.

Anil wouldn’t comment on where Monzo would list if it were to IPO, but he stressed the firm was “deeply committed” to being globally headquartered in London.

Monzo’s rival neobank Starling Bank has reportedly been considering an initial public offering in the U.S. as part of expansion plans there.

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Starling had hired Jody Bhagat, former president of global banking at software firm Personetics Technologies, to lead the growth of its Engine technology unit in the U.S.

Starling was not immediately available to comment when asked by CNBC about its listing plans.

Last year, Starling’s CEO Raman Bhatia talked up the bank’s plans to expand globally via Engine, a software platform that Starling sells to other companies so they can set up their own digital banks.

“I am very bullish about this approach around internationalization of what is the best of Starling — the proprietary tech,” Bhatia said during a fireside chat at the Money 20/20 conference moderated by CNBC.

The increasing demand from traditional banks and financial institutions for robust digital banking solutions could be a key to growth of Starling’s “Engine” platform, which is a positive sign for a potential IPO.

Starling was last privately valued at £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in a 2022 funding round. However, reports indicate the firm is looking to fetch a valuation of £4 billion in an upcoming secondary share sale.

Bulgaria-founded fintech firm Payhawk also has IPO ambitions.

The spend management platform was valued at $1 billion in 2022 and saw revenue surge 85% year-over-year in 2024 to 23.4 million euros ($27.4 million).

“We’re definitely seeing the IPO window open,” Payhawk CEO and co-founder Hristo Borisov told CNBC in an interview earlier this month. However, he stressed that “we are looking at more of a five-year horizon there.”

“If you look at the majority of the IPOs, the majority of those IPOs are companies with $400 million to $500 million-plus ARR [annual recurring revenue],” Borisov said. “That’s our goal.”

There are other fintechs that look like potential IPO contenders further down the line — but the trajectory looks less clear.

Blockchain firm Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC in January last year that the company explored markets outside the U.S. for its IPO due to an aggressive crypto enforcement regime under ex-Securities and Exchange Commission chief Gary Gensler.

That could change now thanks to President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance. Garlinghouse said last year though that Ripple had put any plans for an IPO on hold. The startup was most recently valued at $15 billion.

Germany’s N26 is another potential IPO contender. The digital bank was valued at $9 billion in a 2021 funding round.

However, it has faced some setbacks. N26 co-founder Valentin Stalf recently stepped down as CEO after facing pressure from investors over regulatory failings.