(Bloomberg) -- Klarna Group Plc will offer buy-now, pay-later credit to US shoppers using Google Pay, tying up the fintech firm with another tech giant a month after its partnership with Apple Inc.
From next year, American customers using Google Pay will have an option to spread purchases costing over $35 into four installments, as well as take out longer term loans, through Klarna, the firm announced Tuesday.
“What we’re actively doing at the moment is shifting from the alternative payment world to the default-on or the mainstream payment world,” David Sykes, chief commercial officer at Klarna, said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
Klarna’s early strategy was to expand one retailer at a time, but it’s now looking for growth via global payment processors, according to Sykes. “What you’re going to see over the course of the next six months is a series of these types of very large partnerships that all have the same goal, making sure Klarna at every checkout in the world,” he said.
Google Pay has 25 million customers in the US and launched BNPL options in the country at the start of this year. Klarna, which was once Europe’s most valuable startup and now sees the US as its fastest-growing market, joins Google Pay’s existing providers, rivals Affirm and Zip.
“By teaming up with pay over time providers like Klarna, we are able to give Google Pay users more payment options when checking out, while providing merchants with another tool to drive growth,” said Drew Olson, senior director at Google Pay.
Klarna penned a similar deal with Apple Pay in the US and UK last month. The Swedish firm has also struck deals with Dutch payments giant Adyen, Xero and Worldpay in recent weeks.
The string of partnerships connects Klarna with more digital wallets, which are the fastest-growing payment method in the world. Digital wallets are expected to account for just over half of US shoppers’ spending online by 2027, according to Worldpay. Buy now, pay later will be used for about 6% of US online spending, Worldpay estimates.
Klarna has 85 million customers around the world and 600,000 retail partners.
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