Finance

Klarna’s bumper IPO demonstrated how Wall Street is becoming more welcoming of sizable fintech listings.
That has got market participants wondering which fintech names could be next to go public.
“I think the Klarna IPO would be viewed positively by some of the other scaled-up vendors,” said Gautam Pillai, head of fintech research at Peel Hunt.

Specialist traders work at the post for Swedish fintech Klarna, during the company’s IPO at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., Sept. 10, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

After Swedish payments group Klarna’s $17 billion initial public offering, investors are pondering which big fintech name will be the next to go public.
Klarna popped as much as 30% on the day of its New York IPO, before settling to close around 15% higher. The stock declined further to $42.92 by Friday but is still up about 7% from its IPO price of $40.

The debut demonstrated how Wall Street is becoming more welcoming of bumper fintech listings. Prior to Klarna, online trading platform eToro, stablecoin issuer Circle and crypto exchange Bullish all went public to a positive first-day reception.
Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, surged 14% in its IPO Friday.
“I think the Klarna IPO would be viewed positively by some of the other scaled-up vendors,” Gautam Pillai, head of fintech research at British investment bank Peel Hunt, told CNBC.
There’s a crowded pipeline of fintech names that could be next to IPO after Klarna. CNBC looks at which companies look the most promising.

Stripe

Patrick Collison, chief executive officer and co-founder of Stripe Inc., left, smiles as John Collison, president and co-founder of Stripe Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Studio 1.0 television interview in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Friday, March 23, 2018. 
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Digital payments firm Stripe has for years been viewed as an IPO contender. Stripe has remained a private company in the 15 years since it was founded, and founders and brothers John and Patrick Collison have long resisted pressure to take the business public.

However, that doesn’t mean a stock market listing hasn’t been on Stripe’s mind. The Collisons told employees in 2023 that Stripe would decide to either go public or allow employees to sell shares via a secondary offering within the next year.
Ultimately, Stripe in January opted for a secondary share sale valuing the company at $91.5 billion — close to its peak valuation of $95 billion, which it achieved in 2021.
That doesn’t mean Stripe couldn’t still pursue a stock market debut further down the line. Many fintech unicorn CEOs have been keeping a close eye on Klarna’s IPO performance for signs of when will be the right moment to list.

Revolut

Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Nov. 7, 2019.
Pedro Nunes | Reuters

Revolut is widely seen as a potential future fintech IPO candidate. The digital banking unicorn told CNBC last week that it recently gave employees the chance to sell shares on the secondary market at a whopping $75 billion valuation, placing it above some major U.K. banks by market value.
“As part of our commitment to our employees, we regularly provide opportunities for them to gain liquidity,” a Revolut spokesperson told CNBC at the time. “An employee secondary share sale is currently in process, and we won’t be commenting further until it is complete.”
The secondary round buys Revolut some time to remain private for longer while still offering staff the chance to exit some of their holdings. At the same time, though, it now makes Revolut one of the world’s most valuable private fintech firms.
As to where Revolut lists, for now the U.S. appears the likeliest location.
Co-founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky has spoken candidly about his preference to list in the U.S. due to issues with London’s IPO market. Last year, he told the 20VC podcast that it was “just not rational” to go public in the U.K.

Monzo

Monzo CEO TS Anil.

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.
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. 

Starling Bank

Raman Bhatia, incoming chief executive officer of Starling. Bhatia moved over from OVO Energy Ltd., where he was CEO. 
Zed Jameson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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 declined 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.
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.

Payhawk

Saravutvanset | Room | Getty Images

Though a lesser known name, 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.”

Some honorary mentions

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. More

Buy now, pay later plans offer an attractive alternative to credit cards for consumers: They allow purchases to be split into short-term, typically interest-free installments.
“Credit isn’t new. Credit’s been around for thousands of years and credit cards aren’t new. But they’ve had a hard time adapting to consumer needs,” said Michael Linford, chief operating officer of Affirm. “I think the thing that we’re seeing in the industry right now is widespread adoption of alternatives to credit cards.”

An estimated 86.5 million Americans used buy now, pay later loans in 2024, according to eMarketer, and that number could rise to 91.5 million in 2025. A recent LendingTree survey found that nearly half of Americans have used a buy now, pay later service such as Affirm or Klarna at least once, including 11% who have used the service at least six times.
“I think it pushes out portions of the credit card industry,” said Moshe Orenbuch, senior analyst at TD Cowen. “Buy now, pay later was kind of created for people who either didn’t want to use credit cards or didn’t have a lot of open [credit] to buy on their credit cards.”
“Every purchase that gets financed through buy now, pay later is a purchase that could have been financed through a credit card or a checking account that they offer that now will not be,” said Kevin King, vice president of credit risk and marketing strategy at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “So it reduces card transaction activity, utilization — those are major revenue drivers.”
Beyond the direct challenge that buy now, pay later loans pose to credit cards, big banks and financial institutions have other reasons to be cautious of consumers who use these plans, especially as the number of users continues to grow.  
“Buy now, pay later to date represents a giant black hole in the credit profile and their understanding of consumer credit quality,” said King.
Watch the video above to find out what’s behind the popularity of buy now, pay later loans, and why traditional lenders such as banks and credit card companies are wary of consumers who use these programs. More

Only America’s most confident economic bulls will have remained upbeat this far into 2025. Any flickerings of optimism that survived the tariff chaos of spring and this summer’s growth slowdown will have taken another hit in early September, when employment figures came in weak for the second time in a row. America added less than 30,000 jobs on average in June, July and August, the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) announced. More

Google Flights has a top piece of advice for travelers looking to save money on flights: Be flexible.
That may mean flying outside of weekends or peak seasons, experts said.
Some people may not have that wiggle room. But there are other ways to save, too.

Passengers walk through the entrance of a TSA PreCheck in Terminal One at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Feb. 1, 2017.
Armando L. Sanchez | Chicago Tribune | Getty Images

Finding a cheap flight can at times feel as tough as scoring a decent snack on an airplane.
But travel experts generally agree on one piece of advice to getting a good deal on airfare: Be flexible.

“It’s our No .1 advice, always, for travelers” looking for deals, said James Byers, head of the product team at Google Flights.
Flexibility may mean flying midweek instead of during the weekend, or perhaps traveling outside of peak season for a particular destination, he and other experts said.
“Try not to lock yourself into a really specific date,” Byers said.
Even shifting travel by a day or two in either direction can make a “huge difference,” he said.

The cheapest days to fly

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally the cheapest days to fly. Tickets are 13% less expensive than those for weekend flights, according to new Google Flights data.

Google examined average round-trip airfares from Jan. 1, 2021, through Aug. 1, 2025. It analyzed four-day to 16-day trips departing from the top 4,000 markets in the U.S.
Midweek departures are a “simple way” to save $42 a ticket, or about 14%, on average, for domestic airfare, according to a 2025 travel hacks report by Hopper.

Sunday is often the most expensive day to fly, Hayley Berg, Hopper’s lead economist, wrote in the report. It’s typically a busy day in airports as people fly home from weekends away, she wrote.
“Travelers thinking about a weekend getaway can save significantly by departing mid-week and returning on Saturday or Monday, instead of Sunday,” Berg wrote.
More from Personal Finance:How to save on your phone bill when traveling abroadWealthy Americans are traveling to Europe to dodge tariffs on luxury goodsTSA PreCheck membership still has ‘compelling benefits’
Of course, holidays can throw a wrench into these guidelines.
For example, flying on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is likely the most expensive day to fly around that particular holiday, said Sally French, a travel analyst at NerdWallet.  
As an added bonus, skipping weekend travel can also yield big hotel discounts. Checking in on Friday or Saturday and staying through Sunday generally means paying a premium exceeding 20%, or about $50 more per night, relative to the cheapest days of the week to check in, such as Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, according to Hopper data.

Don’t fall for this travel ‘myth’

Can’t afford the hotel? Travelers can pay staff to let them take photos in the pool.
Daniloandjus | E+ | Getty Images

Many travelers fall for the “myth” that the day of the week on which they purchase their flight has a big financial effect, French said.  
“It’s not true,” she said. “It’s not the day that you book [that’s important], it’s the day that you fly.”
Tuesday has historically been the cheapest day of the week to book, but it’s only 1.3% cheaper than Sunday, the most expensive day, according to the Google Flights analysis.
“If I were giving my friends and family advice on what to look for, it’d be lower on the list as a factor,” Byers said. “I wouldn’t say, ‘Wait until Tuesday.'”

Travel outside of peak season

These alternative travel trends offer something different than the typical vacation.
Alexandr Dubynin | Moment | Getty Images

Flexibility on a more macro level can also help reduce your airfare, French said.
“Just going in a less crowded month can be helpful,” she said.
This might mean traveling during a destination’s shoulder season or offseason, experts said.
Airfare generally peaks in mid-summer and drops as early fall approaches, Berg wrote. For example, domestic travelers in 2024 saved 40%, on average, or about $150, by shifting from peak summer months to September or October, she wrote, citing Hopper data.

Of course, it may be difficult for certain travelers to be flexible.
Parents may be tied to summer trips due to school vacation schedules, while workers in certain roles, say, teachers or tax preparers, may be limited in when they can take time off work.
Additionally, tours or cruises generally come with rigid start and end dates, and it may not make financial sense to tack on additional days — and extra hotel and food costs — at the beginning or end of a trip, French said.

Other airfare hacks

D3sign | Moment | Getty Images

There are other ways to save, though, experts said.
Layovers, while potentially burdensome, are often a surefire way to save money. Booking an itinerary with a layover saves travelers about 22%, on average, versus flying nonstop, according to Google Flights.
Just remember to pack all the essential items for your trip in your carry-on baggage in case your suitcase doesn’t make it onto the next airplane, French said.

Booking ahead, or, not waiting until the last minute, often yields savings, too, experts said.
The lowest prices have been 39 days before departure for a domestic flight and 49 days for international, according to Google Flights. The target may vary based on destination, experts said. More

The White House search for the next Federal Reserve chair continues to twist and turn, with BlackRock bond chief Rick Rieder emerging as the latest hot candidate.
The firm’s chief investment officer of global fixed income interviewed Friday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Trump administration’s point man for Jerome Powell’s successor.

Rick Rieder, BlackRock Senior Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, speaking at the Delivering Alpha conference in New York City on Sept. 28, 2023.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

The White House search for the next Federal Reserve chair continues to twist and turn, with BlackRock bond chief Rick Rieder emerging as the latest hot candidate.
Administration sources tell CNBC that the asset management giant’s chief investment officer of global fixed income interviewed Friday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Trump administration’s point man for Jerome Powell’s successor.

“Whoever ends up being the Fed chair, there’s so many innovative things,” Rieder said Tuesday during a CNBC appearance.
The discussion with Rieder centered on monetary policy, as well as structural issues related to the central bank, sources said. Bessent has publicly stated that he wants to see not only new leadership at the Fed, but also fundamental changes in the way it operates.
Along with the Rieder interview, Bessent earlier this week spoke with former Fed Governors Kevin Warsh and Lawrence Lindsey, as well as James Bullard, who had served as president of the St. Louis Fed.
Trump has given little indication about his preference from a list reported to include 11 candidates, including past and present Fed officials, Wall Street strategists and prominent economists. Similar to Powell, Rieder would offer a departure from traditional central bank chiefs having PhDs in economics.
The Fed meets next week, with markets widely expecting the first interest rate cut since December 2024. Trump, though, has demanded larger cuts as he sees higher rates damaging the housing market and raising borrowing costs for the government.

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“It’s still very much the bottom of the first inning because we see bitcoin trading at $1 million a bitcoin, if it disrupts gold,” Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. “And we think Bitcoin is gold 2.0.”
Gemini is reportedly pricing its initial public offering at $28 per share, valuing the crypto exchange at $3.3 billion

Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder and president of Gemini Trust Co., left, and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder and CEO of Gemini Trust Co., on stage during the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 27, 2025.
Bridget Bennett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Winklevoss twins, whose cryptocurrency company Gemini Space Station is going public, don’t expect bitcoin’s rally will stop anytime soon. In fact, they expect the cryptocurrency will reach $1 million over the next decade.
“It’s still very much the bottom of the first inning because we see bitcoin trading at $1 million a bitcoin, if it disrupts gold,” Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. “And we think Bitcoin is gold 2.0.”

“We think there’s easily a 10x from here. It’s still really early. And I think we’ll be sitting here 10 years from now looking back and saying, ‘Wow, today was really early,'” Tyler continued. “I think few people actually listened back then, so hopefully more people listen today.”
Bitcoin has skyrocketed since the Winklevoss twins first launched Gemini in 2015, when the price of bitcoin was at $380. It was last trading above $115,100 per coin, a more than 30,000% increase over the past decade.

Stock chart icon

Bitcoin, year to date

The Winklevoss twins made their appearance ahead of Gemini’s initial public offering, which was priced at $28 per share late Thursday, according to Bloomberg. A person familiar with the offering told the news service that the company priced the offering above its expected range of $24 to $26, which would value the company at $3.3 billion.
“We’ve come a long way,” Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday.
— CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.
(Learn the best 2026 strategies from inside the NYSE with Josh Brown and others at CNBC PRO Live. Tickets and info here.)

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro: More

Lendbuzz, an auto finance fintech company, is planning to file an IPO prospectus as soon as Friday, according to people familiar with the matter. 
The Boston-based company is targeting a valuation of around $1.5 billion, according to one of the people.
Lendbuzz is looking to go public amid a wave of fellow fintech companies.

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 29, 2025.

Lendbuzz, an auto finance fintech company, is planning to file an IPO prospectus as soon as Friday, according to people familiar with the matter. 
The Boston-based company is targeting a valuation of around $1.5 billion, according to one of the people, who asked not to be named discussing internal matters. That valuation may change as Lendbuzz and its advisors hold discussions with investors. 

The decade-old company uses alternative data and machine learning algorithms to assess the creditworthiness of consumers with limited financial history. Lendbuzz’s loans are funded by asset-backed securitization, warehouse loans from traditional banks and through the sale of portfolios to institutional investors – mainly insurance companies – that are looking for yield. 
Lendbuzz is aiming to go public amid a wave of fellow fintech companies. Klarna and Chime have each gone public in the last three months. Chime is trading below its initial public offering price, while shares of Klarna are about 7% higher than its IPO, priced earlier in the week. 
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are managing Lendbuzz’s offering, according to the people familiar.
Lendbuzz, Goldman and JPMorgan declined to comment. 

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Mexico plans to raise tariffs on vehicles coming from Asia, particularly China, to 50%.
We “hope Mexico will be extremely cautious, and think twice before acting,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement late Thursday, translated by CNBC.
Mexico’s auto industry is the country’s largest employer, Jorge Guajardo, Washington, D.C.-based partner at Dentons Global Advisors, previously told CNBC. He is a former ambassador of Mexico to China.

The Leopard 8 is one of the three cars BYD’s Fang Cheng Bao brand unveiled in Shenzhen on April 16, 2024.
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng

BEIJING — China’s Ministry of Commerce has warned Mexico of countermeasures as the country plans to hike tariffs on Asia-made cars to 50%.
We “hope Mexico will be extremely cautious, and think twice before acting,” the ministry said in a statement late Thursday, translated by CNBC.

“China and Mexico are mutually important trade partners,” the ministry said. “We are not willing to see both sides’ economic cooperation affected by this situation.”
Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard told reporters Wednesday that the country planned to raise tariffs on vehicles coming from Asia, particularly China, to 50% from the current 20%. The increased duties still need Congressional approval, and the tariffs would take effect 30 days later, he said.
“China will take necessary measures … to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” China’s statement read.
Faced with “U.S. abuse of tariffs,” countries should safeguard free trade, China said. “The coercion of others should never sacrifice third-party interests.”
Mexico’s planned China tariffs are part of a broader federal budget proposal that would affect $52 billion worth of the country’s imports, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

In the ongoing trade tensions with the U.S., China’s countermeasures have included restrictions on exports of minerals critical to the production of cars and other advanced technology. Chinese companies have come to dominate the supply chain for many of those minerals.
Sitting on the southern border of the U.S., Mexico benefits from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for tariff-free trade among the countries. But USMCA, which took effect in 2020, requires a far greater portion of a vehicle to be made in the region than the North American Free Trade Agreement agreement it replaced.

Mexico’s auto industry is the country’s largest employer, Jorge Guajardo, Washington, D.C.-based partner at Dentons Global Advisors, previously told CNBC. He is a former ambassador of Mexico to China.
“At 50 percent, the tariffs are lower than the 60 percent tariffs Russia applies to Chinese cars,” Guajardo told CNBC in an email Friday. “I have yet to see China label the same accusations [of coercion] on Russia or Brazil, I assume that’s a tacit agreement that they understand there is no appetite in the world to absorb China’s excess capacity.” Brazil in July announced tariffs of 35% on electric-car imports.
Excess supply was a reason why global trade existed, a Chinese official told CNBC last year, adding that that if China was producing too many electric cars, other countries dominated in global exports of liquefied natural gas, agricultural products and high-end semiconductors.
From June 2022 to July 2024, more than 20 Chinese auto parts and manufacturers have announced over $7 billion in investments in Mexico, according to the Coalition for a Prosperous America, an advocacy group.
It’s unclear how many of the projects have been completed. Chinese electric car giant BYD has notably not yet built a long-awaited factory in Mexico.
The central American country has been China’s top destination for car exports, according to China Passenger Car Association figures earlier this year.
“The thing that’s very important about Chinese autos is that where they’re taking market share, a lot of times, it’s not really from the Western brands. It’s really from the other Asian brands. I think that’s what we’ve seen in Mexico,” Eugene Hsiao, Macquarie Capital, head of China equity strategy, said on CNBC’s “The China Connection” earlier this week, ahead of Mexico’s latest tariff announcement.
But even with hints of a 25% increase in duties at the time, Hsiao said that he expected “the value proposition for a lot of these Chinese cars, I think, remains intact, even with some of these tariffs.” More