KLAR, BLSH and FIG: How’s It Going for These Post-IPO Stocks? Not Great

The US IPO market has roared back to life in 2025. By the middle of the year, more than 140 listings had priced on Nasdaq, raising roughly $19.2bn — the strongest first-half performance since 2021. 

As of Q3 2025, IPOs had raised nearly $30bn, up 31% year-over-year, suggestive of a renewed appetite on the part of investors. 

Many of the biggest IPOs have seen significant day-one spikes. 

In a recent article titled ‘IPO Pops Are Back’, Nasdaq analysts have demonstrated that IPO pops are, indeed, back.  

On a capital-raised weighted basis, US companies have delivered an average first-day pop of roughly 34% — twice the levels seen in 2023 and 2024, and the second-strongest showing since at least 2014.

Of the 175 operating-company IPOs this year, 72 jumped more than 10% on debut, 18 rallied at least 50% and eight posted pops exceeding 125%.

Of course, debut pops are not the whole story: they’re barely the first sentence. 

Back in 2021, Phil Mackintosh, Nasdaq’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President, highlighted research on how IPO performance begins to diverge meaningfully about a month after listing.

After the first month, roughly 25% of new issuers outperform the market by more than 10%, while about 20% lag behind it by at least the same margin. By the three-month mark, those figures widen to 34% and 32%, respectively, with the share of companies staying within a 10% band shrinking from 55% to 34%.

Mackintosh noted that long-term results are heavily skewed by the strongest performers: the eighth decile typically beats the benchmark by around 25% after three years, while the top 10% deliver market-adjusted gains exceeding 300%.

With that in mind, let’s look at three of the big-ticket tech IPOs of recent months. We’ll see what their initial performances say about the individual stocks, and what they might reveal about the IPO space more generally. 

Klarna

A pioneer in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) space, Swedish fintech Klarna [KLAR] was founded in 2005. It offers flexible payment solutions, including installment plans and interest-free financing. Its mobile app combines shopping, budgeting and rewards, positioning the company as both a payment provider and a lifestyle platform. 

Klarna has grown rapidly in Europe and the US, but BNPL faces rising regulatory scrutiny, particularly around consumer debt and transparency. Still, the company’s trajectory is a key case study in the evolving intersection of tech, finance and e-commerce.

Klarna went public in early September, raising $1.37bn, the largest IPO in the year so far, according to Renaissance Capital. Straight out of the gate, the firm hit a valuation of $19.65bn.

KLAR stock has stumbled downhill since then, although it has regained some lost ground in recent days. It is currently down 31.93% since its IPO. 

On November 18, Klarna posted a 26% rise in Q3 revenue, its first earnings since listing. It reported $903m in revenue versus analysts’ $882m estimate, according to LSEG data. The firm also projected revenue above $1bn for the current quarter, slightly above expectations.

Gross merchandise volume (GMV), a widely used e-commerce metric, grew 23% to $32.7bn, driven by a 43% GMV increase in the US, Klarna’s largest market, where revenue rose 51%. Active customers climbed 32% to 114 million. The company posted a $95m net loss, however, partly due to adopting US accounting standards. 

Bullish

Crypto exchange Bullish [BLSH] jumped after the company raised roughly $1.1bn in its IPO back in August. The stock opened at $90 on the NYSE, 143% above its $37 IPO price, spiked to $118 and closed at $68, up more than 83%.

By the close of its first day, its market value stood around $10.25bn, based on 150.68 million shares outstanding. The company sold 30 million shares in the IPO, representing 19.9% of total stock.

Since then, however, it has tanked, and BLSH stock is down 55.23%, dragged down by the broader crypto selloff. Its market cap is somewhat above $6bn. 

Reporting in November, slightly before that selloff became entrenched, Bullish logged a strong Q3. CEO Tom Farley noted the launch of crypto options trading and US spot trading, expansion of institutional clients and gains in index-based products. 

Financially, Bullish generated digital asset sales of $41.6bn, down from $54.2bn a year earlier, but posted net income of $18.5m, compared with a loss of $67.3m in Q3 2024. Adjusted revenue climbed to $76.5m, with adjusted EBITDA of $28.6m, up from $7.7m in the year-ago quarter.

Business milestones included partnering with 14 firms for crypto options, winning six ETP benchmark switches and launching US spot trading following NY BitLicense approval, while liquidity services partnerships more than doubled quarter-over-quarter.

Figma

Figma [FIG] went public on July 31, 2025, pricing its IPO at $33 per share. On its first trading day the stock opened near $85, surged past $112 and closed around $115.50 — more than triple the IPO price. This gave the company a market valuation of around $68bn.

The firm’s first full earnings as a public company came with its Q2 2025 report in September: revenue rose 41% year‑over‑year to $249.6m, roughly in line with expectations, but net income was modest, and the market reacted poorly. The stock dropped sharply, wiping out much of the IPO‑day gains.

Figma’s Q3 2025 results showed revenue rose 38% year‑over‑year to $274.2m, giving an annualized revenue run‑rate above $1bn. As with other post‑IPO tech names, the trajectory shows volatility: a spectacular debut, a rough first earnings report and cautious recovery on the back of continued growth. 

In this, having gone public slightly before Klarna and Bullish, and having cleared the hurdle of its sophomore earnings call, Figma might offer a vision of the future path of the other two companies. FIG stock, however, remains down 57.49% since its IPO. 

Here are how the fundamentals of the three companies compare: 

Source: Stockanalysis.com

Conclusion

This year’s IPO wave has delivered spectacular debut pops, but the experiences of Klarna, Bullish and Figma demonstrate that post-IPO earnings are where the story really begins: revenue growth, product expansion and market traction determine whether early optimism translates into lasting value. 

Klarna and Bullish show how volatility and sector-specific headwinds — regulatory scrutiny in BNPL, crypto selloffs — can quickly erode initial gains. Figma, slightly ahead in its post-IPO cycle, illustrates a more measured trajectory: strong revenue growth tempered by modest net income, with early earnings shaping investor expectations and market positioning. 

In short, pops can be enticing, but sustainable growth and execution post-listing are the true determinants of long-term performance.