“Can Sofort GmbH survive as Klarna's regulated open-banking infrastructure entity (PISP/AISP) in Europe after the consumer-facing brand has been fully absorbed into Klarna's checkout experience?”
Sofort began as a direct online bank-transfer scheme ('Sofortüberweisung') allowing German consumers to pay merchants via their online banking credentials without a card. Acquired by Klarna in 2014, the brand was progressively subsumed into the Klarna ecosystem. By 2023–2025, Sofort had effectively ceased to exist as an independent consumer-facing product: Adyen-connected merchants migrated to 'Klarna Debit Risk', Stripe dropped it as a standalone method, and Checkout.com closed new integrations. What remains is Sofort GmbH as the regulated EU legal entity (PISP/AISP) providing the open-banking infrastructure layer for Klarna's bank-transfer and account-information services across Europe.
Sofort processes payments through Sofortüberweisung / Klarna Debit Risk (self-operated) and Brite Payments (instant payouts partnership).
Sofort's lending and capital products are provided by Klarna.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Sofort's stack: Payments / PSP (Sofortüberweisung / Klarna Debit Risk (self-operated) and Brite Payments (instant payouts partnership)); Lending (Klarna).
Sofort is headquartered in Munich, Germany (Theresienhöhe 12, 80339 München).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Sofort and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.