Most know A$AP Rocky as a tycoon in the rap game with his plethora of beyond lavish music videos and fashions. But fans will soon see the Harlem raised artist in a new light as he becomes the biggest investor of the Sweden based fintech company, Klarna.
In a conversation with Forbes, Rocky lamented on the phenomenon of dealing with credit pitfalls, especially in disenfranchised communities.
"You’re setting yourself up for financial debt," he explains, "There's no system that helps people with financial literacy. There’s no system that helps us deal with things when it comes to student loans, the IRS, banking or credit."
These discrepancies made his alliance with Klarna a "no-brainer".
Founded in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna has been making massive waves in the past years by offering its customers the ability to make gradual payments on high end items. The company is valued at a stunning $31 million. It makes a large sum of its profit by making merchants like Nike and Sephora pay for utilizing its platform. Notable investors include Softbank, General Atlantic, and BlackRock . . . and Snoop Dog.
Klarna has some pretty big plans for its new superstar investor. Not only will Rocky stack claim as the privately-held company's highest backer, he'll also receive CEO status for a day. During this time, the artist will take over the Klarna app to bring its customers a trendy, upcycle fashion experience.
The partnership is seen as a kind of redemption for Rocky as his past with Sweden has been a bit sorted. In 2019, the rapper unfortunately found himself in a sticky situation which landed him with an assault charge. Though he spent a brief amount of time in jail, he was soon released and returned to the States without being barred from the country.
So Rocky's returning to Sweden as the biggest backer of one of its most notable companies is nothing short of a triumph.
Though critics berate the company for encourage bad habits of overspending, the Klarna continues to grow with nearly 90 million active users and 250,000 merchants.
"We’re a very diverse group of people with over 50 nationalities represented, speaking multiple languages that have a very different approach to business," the company's CEO, Siemiatkowski tells Forbes, "We wanted our brand to represent that—to represent approachability and availability. We also did want to add a portion of fun to it."