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Klarna Group, the Swedish fintech startup known for its popular buy now, pay later services, has reveled the target share price for its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO). In a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said it plans to offer roughly 34.3 million ordinary shares at a price ranging between $35 and $37, raising as much as $1.27 billion in an offering led by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley. The IPO has been a long time coming. Klarna had been one of big winners of the early pandemic era’s online shopping boom, reportedly reaching a peak valuation of $45.6 billion in 2021, only to see that figure significantly reduced after stay-at-home restrictions were lifted and the world opened back up again. At its current target price, the company would have a valuation of roughly $14 billion, Reuters reports. Klarna intends to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol KLAR. No listing date was mentioned in the filing. A spokesperson for Klarna declined to comment. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}(); High-profile tech IPOs are a thing this year Earlier this year, Klarna reportedly put its IPO on hold in the wake of economic uncertainty brought on by President Trump’s tariff regime. But since then, a number of well-known tech companies have gone public with marked success, including stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, design software startup Figma, and crypto exchange Bullish. Despite those and other listings making headlines over the last few months, the global tech IPO market has remained muted. Proceeds from tech IPOs generated $6.3 billion in the second quarter of 2025, compared to $34.9 billion for the same period in 2021, according to data from CB Insights. Founded in 2005, Klarna said it generated revenue of $2.8 billion last year, eking out a net profit of $21 million. That’s compared to revenue of $2.3 billion and a net loss of $244 million the year before. This story is developing…
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E-Commerce
A new startup called Ridley wants to make it cheaper to sell a home by challenging the traditional real estate commission model. Founder and CEO Mike Chambers says he started Ridley after trying to sell his house earlier this year in a desirable Boulder, Colorado, neighborhood. Frustrated by the lack of agents offering what he considered fair rates, he documented the process of marketing the home himself in a series of viral Instagram videos under the handle @realtorshateme, regularly taking shots at the industry. “The story was picked up by the press,” he says. “We really had tapped into what I would argue is this sort of underlying sentiment that a lot of consumers are feeling right now, that this process of buying and selling homes is antiquated and somewhat broken.” Once the house was under contract, Chambers began promoting the business idea that became Ridley. Launched in July, the platform lets sellers pay a flat fee for access to an AI-guided checklist of steps and paperwork, pricing guidance, a listing page, yard sign, and distribution to Zillow. [Image: Ridley] Through a partnership with Thumbtack, sellers can also book stagers or photographers, and Ridley connects users with lawyers, either at a $1,200 package rate or hourly. “We’re trying to unbundle this commission modelthis sort of traditional modeland give people the freedom and the choice to choose which aspects of the process they want help with,” says Chambers. Traditionally, U.S. real estate commissions have ranged from 5% to 6%, typically paid by the seller and split between agents. While a recent court settlement has nominally introduced more flexibility, buyers and sellers havent yet seen dramatic shifts in practice. So far, Ridley has logged more than $150 million in listings, growing by several million dollars daily, Chambers says. Closed sales have saved users an average of $25,000 in commissions, with one seller saving as much as $135,000. Most users, he adds, have sold at least one home before. Pricing and plan details vary from state to state, based in part on differing regulations. In its home state of Colorado, for example, the company offers a $2,999 plan that includes the assistance of a licensed real estate brokerincluding listing via the multiple listing service (MLS) database accessible to buyers’ agents. Despite Chambers’ public comments on the real estate industry, he says the company has a waitlist of more than 1,000 Colorado agents looking to work with Ridley clients, thanks in part to frustrations many have with traditional industry practices. Ambierre Rediger, a Denver-area agent who has begun working with Ridley users, says they tend to be slightly more informed about prices and market conditions, but the core of her job is the same. “I’m offering them a similar sort of agent relationship that they would have with anybody,” she says. In other states, Ridley offers an “essentials plan” for $999 without an agent. Its AI collects property details to generate pricing analyses Chambers says are more accurate than generic online estimates. “Our model is able to provide you with a detailed pricing analysis that gives you a step-by-step breakdown on a bunch of different pricing scenarios and how you might want to go to market,” he says. The AI can also guide users through sale stages and explain industry terms. Entrepreneur Bradd Fisher used Ridley to sell a home in Yorba Linda, California, after finding Chambers videos. He says Ridleys price estimate was closer to the final sale price than one provided by a human appraiser, and he was satisfied with the attorney he hired through the platform. Fisher handled other tasks himself, like shooting a property video, working with his photographer son, and hosting his own open house. “We closed in 30 days, and I can say legit, with not one single hiccup, no problems at all,” Fisher says. Chambers says Ridley plans to add buyer services in the future. The company already offers “Buyer Alerts,” which notify buyers of new or off-market listings. But focusing on sellers, who traditionally pay both commissions, was the logical place to start, he says. The company, which is in the process of raising a seed round, is likely to add additional options to work with human real estate brokers in more states, even as its AI may gain more abilities to automate parts of the process like pricing or vendor selection. “We’re trying to make this really complicated process as simple and easy to navigate as possible for sellers,” Chambers says. “And I think that’s a really critical component here.”
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E-Commerce
For more than a decade, social platforms have faced criticism for embedding algorithms that fuel compulsive behaviors, encourage doomscrolling, and measure success by time spent glued to screens. Pinterest, long positioned as a calmer alternative, is now attempting something bolder: reimagining personalization through AI. Chief technology officer Matt Madrigal calls this shift moving from addictive to additive, using algorithms as tools to help people design the digital worlds they want. Unlike other platforms, Pinterests algorithms arent designed to keep users hooked, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and distracted, he tells Fast Company. Our taste graph serves as the foundation of our AI systems and enables our recommendations to deliver highly personalized experiences. It maps hundreds of billions of unique interactions that connect interests, goals, and behaviors to help users cut through the noise. Madrigal, who once led Google Shoppings merchant products, now guides Pinterests foundation AI models with a philosophy that values respect as much as relevance. AI is at its best when it serves real human needs rather than just optimizing for clicks or transactions, he says. During my time at Google, I also saw how frictionless commerce could empower shoppers and brands. At Pinterest, our AI strategy isnt just about personalization for relevance, its also about serendipity. Pinterests multimodal discovery system powers visual search that Madrigal says is 30% more effective than leading off-the-shelf models. Its Inclusive AI features allow beauty and fashion searches to be refined by hair pattern, skin tone, and body type. The philosophy shows up in product choices, too. Pinterest has added AI-generated content labels, a show fewer AI Pins toggle, and an option to opt out of having activity used to train models. We reject the false dilemma that maximizing AI innovation means sacrificing responsible development, says Madrigal. While rivals face scrutiny for algorithmic harms, Pinterest is betting that transparency and user control can be a competitive edge. [Photo: Pinterest] The Responsible Approach in the AI Arms Race Meta is embedding AI deeper into Instagram and Facebook; TikTok is sharpening recommendations and expanding commerce; YouTube relies on AI to drive stickier engagement. Pinterests 2025 rollout takes a different tack, emphasizing responsibility as much as personalization. New tools include Personalized Background Generation, which transforms plain product images into lifestyle-ready visuals tailored to a users aesthetic, and Performance+, an automation suite that reduces friction for marketers by optimizing ads with fewer inputs. Madrigal points to Pradas leather goods campaign as an example: a 64% decrease in cost per action and a 30% conversion rate lift. He says these ad tools have helped fuel a 19% year-over-year revenue increase to more than $3 billion. The most visible change is the AI-generated content label. Pins created or edited with generative AI now carry clear tags, embodying what Madrigal calls AI with guardrails. There is a demand from users and creators for more transparency and control over the generative AI content they see, he explains. AI is instrumental in enhancing both user engagement and monetization. Ultimately, embedding positivity within our business model has proven successful. [Photo: Pinterest] Can AI Balance Engagement and Responsibility? Pinterests latest earnings highlight both traction and tension. In Q2 2025, revenue hit $998 million and monthly active users rose to 578 million, driven largely by international growth and Gen Z adoption. Yet Wall Street shruggedshares fell more than 12%, slipping into the $35$36 range, even as revenue topped expectations. Since November 2024, the company has also repurchased nearly 10 million shares. Commercial pressure, experts warn, often favors stickiness over restraint. History has shown that publicly traded companies often are forced to optimize for shareholder value, and for shareholder value, they need to make the most revenue and the most profits. This directly correlates to engagement, so they do create loops that get the most engagement, Ajit Varma, VP of product for Firefox at Mozilla, tells Fast Company. But as there are choices and people are preferring those choices, there will always be a future where AI is serving humanity versus serving the profit interests of companies. That tension exposes the limits of an advertising-first playbook. Varma argues that users should be able to vote with their choicesopting for systems that reflect their values, whether open-source, transparent, or safety-first. Ultimately, its up to users to demonstrate that they value these alternatives by choosing and using products built on different models. Pinterests challenge isnt only delivering on that vision; its proving to users and investors that additive AI can rival addictive AI. If its 2025 playbook succeeds, it could set a precedent that real power lies in generative systems that enhance creativity while respecting boundaries. I envision a platfom that deeply understands not only what users search for, but the context behind their interests, aspirations and moods. AI will be the engine, but inspiration and positivity will remain our North Star, says Madrigal. Across various teams, were working on creating new AI solutions that power the entire end-to-end user experience and were bringing in top talent to help make it happen.
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E-Commerce
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