Klarna, the Stockholm-based fintech darling, released its revised quarterly earnings statement on Monday. They took a creative approach, using an AI avatar of their CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski. The delivery of the presentation was very out-of-the-box thinking, even incorporating a YouTube video. Through this video, the new AI avatar—dubbed “AI Siemiatkowski”—expanded upon the company’s strong results. For Klarna, the move is a big one considering the company’s impending first day as a public company.
Throughout the virtual presentation, the AI avatar of CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski underscored the unicorn’s jaw-dropping growth. To its praise, the app attributed artificial intelligence as the main driving force in reaching 100 million users. Siemiatkowski underscored AI’s crucial purpose in enhancing operational efficiency. This increased profitability helped the company reach its fourth straight quarter of profit.
Klarna’s employee headcount has seen huge fluctuations in the past year. Siemiatkowski revealed that the company has “shrunk from about 5,000 to now almost 3,000 employees,” reflecting a strategic shift toward technology-driven solutions. This cut is about 50% reduction of their personnel, as reported in a recent blog post from the firm’s CEO.
This is clearly reflected in Klarna’s incredible revenue per employee, which has skyrocketed to almost $1 million. This push for efficiency represents how AI is more than a tool or gimmick for Klarna. It’s become an essential element of the company’s brand as it molded itself into an AI-first company.
This produced a fascinating byproduct during the presentation, which observers noted. They observed how the AI avatar hardly ever blinked, quite different from a real human presenter. Attention shifted right back to the impressive bottom line and Klarna’s longterm vision of going public.
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