Dozens of Klarna employees have become overnight millionaires after the buy now pay later lender was valued at $17bn (£15bn) in its New York stock market debut.
More than 40 current and former Klarna employees and managers will see their stakes valued at more than $1m after shares in the company began trading at $52 per share.
Shares had been priced at $40 by bankers ahead of the listing but they surged by as much as 30pc after trading began yesterday as investors piled in adding to their fortune, before ending the day at $45.82.
Although most staff cannot sell their shares for 180 days, senior executives with larger stakes have been allowed to cash out some of their stock.
Reclusive co-founder Victor Jacobsson, who left the company in 2012, is selling 3.5pc of his $1.6bn stake. David Fock, chief product officer, is selling about $12m worth of shares while Camilla Giesecke, Klarna’s operations chief, will sell $6.5m worth.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s chief executive, has a 6.8pc stake valued at over $1.3bn but is not selling any shares.
Major shareholders set to reap big paper profits from the listing include Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, BlackRock, Silver Lake, Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen and Sequoia.
Klarna’s decision to list in New York over London is another blow for the UK’s beleaguered stock market.
Steven Fine, Peel Hunt chief executive, said Klarna’s decision to float in the US showed that Britain had to be more proactive to attract innovative companies
“The issue is domestic capital to help these companies scale. Pension fund allocation to the domestic market, the British Business Bank being allowed to invest in listed equity and of course ISA and stamp duty reform would make a material difference,” he said.
“Regulatory change has been tremendously positive for the UK and we clearly stand out as having less friction than other European jurisdictions.
“On tax, if we brought back Entrepreneurs Relief but only if you IPO, it would create quite a stir and make every founder in the UK and Europe sit up and take notice.”
Founded in 2005 in Sweden, Klarna provides short term loans which allow customers to buy from online retailers and pay in instalments over a period of time.
While most people borrow money to buy expensive items such as cars or white goods, the company has been widely criticised for allowing consumers to take on debt to buy mundane items such makeup, clothing, streaming subscriptions or concert tickets.
Mr Siemiatkowski has dismissed the criticism, saying that Klarna is no worse than the credit cards offered by large banks.