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Fortune

Preston Fore

Klarna’s cofounder worked at Burger King and lived on welfare before starting the buy-now, pay-later firm. It’s now worth $16 billion after IPO

Klarna Sebastian Siemiatkowski Burger King IPO fintech

Sebastian Siemiatkowski (Credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Klarna cofounder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski’s path toward leading a $16 billion company is a rags-to-riches story. His career began by flipping Whoppers at Burger King, hitchhiking across the world, and living off of welfare. But without his struggles, he may have never sparked the idea for Klarna, which has now made 40 employee millionaires.

Investors are bullish about buying now and paying later. The Swedish fintech firm Klarna just went public and was the largest IPO of 2025 so far, according to Renaissance Capital.

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