Klarna Kosma drives 52% increase in active customers for budgeting app, Buddy 

Stockholm, 2 March, 2023 – Buddy (www.buddy.download), one of the world’s most popular budgeting apps for young people, has partnered with Klarna Kosma (www.kosma.com), Klarna's financial technology platform for banks, fintechs and innovative retailers, to allow Buddy users to connect their bank to automatically and seamlessly track expenses for greater budgeting accuracy and efficiency.

With over 3 million users, Buddy provides a simple way to build and share budgets, track expenses, and better understand overall financial health. The bootstrapped company has become the most popular app of its kind in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Sweden, and others, and the second most popular in the US.

Buddy’s partnership with Klarna Kosma means customers can check their account balance in real-time, monitor spending and even set up payment reminders, all from Buddy’s app.  With an added layer of security, users can safely track spending with just a few taps. This makes it easier than ever before to track expenses, gain valuable insights into spending habits, and better control finances.

Customers access these services by connecting their bank account to the Buddy app. This is enabled, in the background, by Klarna Kosma, which provides apps like Buddy with simple and secure access to 15,000 banks in 27 countries around the world through a single API.

“Buddy’s mission is to empower young people with the knowledge of how to spend and save sustainably,” said Buddy's Founder and CEO, Olle Lind. 

“Through this integration we're helping individuals gain control of their finances by offering an easy-to-use, intuitive budgeting app that connects directly to their bank feed, helping them to manage their money during this difficult financial period and beyond. We’re giving users peace of mind in knowing that their Buddy app is always up-to-date, which results in much better budgeting visibility."

Wilko Klaassen, VP for Open Banking at Klarna Kosma said: “We are excited to be joining forces with Buddy to make budgeting simple and fun for Gen Z and millennials. With Kosma's help, Buddy could create a more smooth consumer experience, resulting in 52% more monthly active users for the Personal Finance Management App. It’s fantastic to welcome Buddy to Kosma’s platform and we look forward to being part of their future growth and continued success, helping even more users to shore up their finances.