Key Points

• Buy now, pay later company Klarna’s decision to go public in the United States has sparked speculation from fintech experts about whether the move could spark a resurgence of big fintech IPOs.

• That doesn’t appear to be the case for now, but the founders will be keeping an eye on Klarna’s debut and watching the stock price and performance closely.

• CEOs and co-founders of top fintech unicorns said going public is not a top priority, but there are signs pointing toward a more favorable IPO market in the next two years.

LISBON, Portugal – Fintech unicorns are in no rush to go public after buy now, pay later firm Klarna filed for a U.S. initial public offering, but they are watching for signs when the market will open again. .

Last week, Klarna made a confidential filing to go public in the US, ending months of speculation about where the Swedish digital payments company would list. The timing of the IPO is still unclear and Klarna has yet to decide the price or number of shares it will issue to the public.

Still, the development generated buzz in fintech circles, with market watchers asking whether the move marks the beginning of a resurgence of big fintech IPOs. For now, that doesn’t seem to be the case; However, the founders say they will be keeping an eye on the IPO market, watching prices and, eventually, stock performance.

Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO of online payments startup GoCardless, said last week that it’s not yet time for his company to kick off an IPO. He sees going public as more of a milestone on a journey than an end goal.

“The markets have been challenging in recent years,” Takeuchi, whose GoCardless business was last valued at more than $2 billion, said on a panel moderated by CNBC at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

“We need to focus on building a better business,” Takeuchi added, noting that “the rest will follow” if the startup does well. GoCardless specializes in recurring payments, transactions that leave a consumer’s bank account routinely, such as a monthly donation to a charity.

Lucy Liu, co-founder of cross-border payments company Airwallex, agreed with Takeuchi and said it is also not the right time for Airwallex to go public. In a separate interview, Liu told CNBC what fellow Airwallex co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang previously said: that the company hopes to be “ready to go public” in 2026.

“Every company is different,” Liu said on stage, sitting next to Takeuchi on the same panel. Airwallex is more focused on becoming the best it can be to solve frictions in global cross-border payments, he said.

An IPO is a goal in the company’s trajectory, but it is not the final milestone, according to Liu. “We are constantly in conversations with our investors and shareholders,” he said, adding that that will change “when the time is right.”

‘Stars aligning’ for fintech IPOs

“We outlined five handles to open the [IPO] window, and I think those stars are aligning in terms of macro, interest rates, politics, elections are out of the way, volatility,” Navina Rajan, senior research analyst at the private market. data firm PitchBook told CNBC.

“He’s definitely in a better place, but at the end of the day, we don’t know what’s going to happen, there’s a new president in America,” Rajan continued. “It will be interesting to see the timing of the IPO and also the valuation.”

Fintech companies have raised around €6.2 billion ($6.6 billion) in venture capital since the beginning of the year through Oct. 30, according to data from PitchBook.

Jaidev Janardana, CEO and co-founder of British digital bank Zopa, told CNBC that an IPO is not an immediate priority for his company.

“To be honest, it’s not the first thing on my mind,” Janardana told CNBC. “I think we continue to be lucky to have long-term, supportive shareholders who also support future growth.”

He hinted that private markets currently remain the most accommodating place to be able to build a technology business that focuses on investing in growth.

However, the Zopa CEO added that he sees signs pointing to a more favorable IPO market in the coming years, with the US likely opening up in 2025.

That should mean Europe becomes more open to IPOs happening next year, according to Janardana. He did not reveal where Zopa intends to go public.