Headway

Klarna

Headway

Headway makes money by taking a percentage of the insurance reimbursement for each session facilitated through the platform. When a patient sees a Headway-credentialed therapist and pays their copay, Headway processes the insurance claim and takes a service fee from the reimbursement before paying the therapist.

The model aligns incentives well. Headway only makes money when therapy sessions actually happen, which means they're incentivized to help therapists see more patients and reduce no-shows.

Therapists make more than they would on their own (because Headway's negotiated rates are often better than individual therapists can get), and patients pay only their insurance copay ($0-$50 typically) instead of full out-of-pocket rates.

Scale creates a data and negotiation advantage. With 40,000+ therapists on the platform, Headway can negotiate better reimbursement rates with insurers.

More therapists attract more patients. More patients justify better rates.

The flywheel spins.

Klarna

Klarna makes money from merchant fees and consumer interest. Merchants pay Klarna 3-6% of each transaction — they're willing to pay because Klarna increases conversion rates by 30%+ and average order values by 45%.

On "Pay in 4" (interest-free installments), Klarna makes money purely from merchant fees. On longer financing (6-36 months), Klarna charges consumers interest up to 25% APR.

Klarna also earns revenue from its shopping app (affiliate commissions when users discover and buy from merchants), and from its Klarna Card.

Headway

Andrew Adams and Jake Sussman founded Headway in 2019 after watching people in their lives struggle to access affordable mental healthcare. The problem was specific and structural: most therapists operate as solo practitioners who don't accept insurance.

Not because they don't want to — because the process of getting credentialed with insurance companies, submitting claims, and chasing reimbursements is so bureaucratically painful that most therapists give up and go cash-only.

The result is a two-tier mental healthcare system. People with money pay $150-$300 per session out of pocket.

People without money either can't afford therapy or wait months for the few in-network providers available. Meanwhile, therapists who only accept cash are leaving money on the table — insurance pays reliably once the system works, and the patient pool is vastly larger.

Headway's solution was to build the infrastructure layer that makes insurance billing painless for therapists. They handle credentialing (getting the therapist accepted into insurance networks), claims submission, payment processing, and compliance — all the administrative work that therapists hate.

The therapist shows up, does therapy, and Headway handles everything else.

Klarna

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth, and Victor Jacobsson were students at the Stockholm School of Economics. In 2005, they entered a startup competition with an idea: let people buy things online and pay later.

At the time, online shopping was still new and most people were terrified of entering their credit card details on the internet. The idea was simple — Klarna would pay the merchant immediately, and the customer would get an invoice with 14-30 days to pay.

The competition judges hated it. The idea was dismissed as financially irresponsible and the team didn't win.

But Siemiatkowski pressed on. Swedish e-commerce was growing fast and merchants were desperate for any way to reduce cart abandonment.

Klarna's "pay after delivery" model was a hit because it shifted the risk — customers could receive the product, try it on, and only pay for what they kept.

The first customers were Swedish e-commerce merchants selling fashion and home goods. Klarna handled the invoicing, fraud detection, and collections.

Merchants saw conversion rates jump because customers were more willing to buy when they didn't have to pay immediately.

Headway

Headway grew by solving the supply-side problem first. If you can get enough therapists on the platform and credentialed with insurance, patients will come because affordable therapy is in massive demand.

They recruited therapists with a compelling pitch: "keep doing therapy, we'll handle the business side."

Insurance partnerships were the growth unlock. Headway partnered with major insurance companies (Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, Anthem) to become an authorized credentialing partner.

This meant Headway could get therapists in-network faster and with less friction than the traditional process.

The mental health destigmatization wave amplified demand. Post-COVID, demand for therapy skyrocketed.

The conversation around mental health became mainstream. Headway was positioned perfectly to absorb that demand by connecting patients with affordable, insurance-covered therapists.

Klarna

Klarna grew by being embedded at checkout. The strategy was to sign up the biggest online retailers and become a payment option alongside Visa and PayPal.

Once Klarna was at checkout, consumers discovered it organically. The "Pay in 4" button became ubiquitous across fashion, electronics, and home goods retailers.

The Klarna app became a growth engine beyond checkout. By building a shopping app where users could browse products, discover deals, and track deliveries, Klarna turned from a payment method into a shopping destination.

The app has 35+ million monthly active users who start their shopping journey inside Klarna before even visiting a retailer.

International expansion was aggressive. Starting in Sweden, Klarna rolled out across Europe, then into the US, UK, and Australia.

The US became the biggest growth market — American consumers were especially receptive to Pay in 4 as an alternative to credit cards. By 2023, Klarna had 34 million US users.

Headway

Therapist retention is a challenge. Solo practitioners are independent by nature, and some leave the platform once they've built a full patient roster through Headway.

The platform needs to continuously demonstrate value beyond initial credentialing to keep therapists from going direct.

Insurance reimbursement rates are notoriously low. Therapists who accept insurance often earn 30-50% less per session than cash-pay rates.

While Headway negotiates better rates than individual therapists typically get, the fundamental economics of insurance-based mental healthcare remain challenging.

Regulatory complexity varies by state. Each state has different licensing requirements, insurance regulations, and telehealth rules.

Expanding to all 50 states means navigating 50 different regulatory frameworks, each with their own credentialing requirements and compliance standards.

Klarna

The valuation collapse was humiliating. Klarna raised at a $46 billion valuation from SoftBank in 2021.

One year later, they raised a down round at $6.7 billion — an 85% haircut. It was the most dramatic valuation drop in fintech history.

Employee stock options were underwater. Siemiatkowski had to lay off 10% of the workforce.

The entire BNPL category went from hot to radioactive in months.

Credit losses are the existential risk. Klarna is lending money to consumers who want to buy things they can't afford to pay for right now.

When the economy slows, defaults rise. Klarna's credit losses hit $1 billion in 2022.

The company had to tighten underwriting significantly and pull back from riskier markets. The tension between growth (approve more loans) and profitability (reject risky borrowers) defines every quarter.

The IPO in 2025 was a comeback story but with caveats. Klarna went public at $15 billion — a major recovery from the $6.7 billion trough but still less than a third of its 2021 peak.

The company finally turned profitable by slashing costs with AI (replacing hundreds of customer service agents with AI chatbots) and tightening credit standards. But investors remain cautious about the BNPL model's long-term sustainability.

Headway

Headway Provider Platform — the core system where therapists manage their practice: scheduling, credentialing, claims submission, payment tracking, and patient communications. Headway Patient Matching — a directory and matching service that connects patients with in-network therapists based on insurance, location, specialty, and availability.

Insurance Credentialing Service — Headway handles the months-long process of getting therapists accepted into insurance networks, reducing what typically takes 6-12 months to weeks. Claims and Billing Engine — automated insurance claims submission and tracking that eliminates the paperwork therapists dread.

Practice Management Tools — scheduling, intake forms, session notes, and telehealth capabilities integrated into one platform.

Klarna

Pay in 4 is the signature product — split any purchase into four interest-free payments over six weeks. Pay in 30 lets customers receive the product first and pay within 30 days.

Financing offers longer-term payment plans with interest for larger purchases. The Klarna App is a shopping destination — browse deals, track orders, manage payments, and earn cashback.

The Klarna Card is a physical Visa card that lets users Pay in 4 anywhere. Klarna Creator is a platform for influencers to earn commissions sharing products.

Klarna AI is their customer service chatbot that handles two-thirds of support queries.

Headway

Andreessen Horowitz led the Series C at a $2.3 billion valuation. Accel and Thrive Capital invested in earlier rounds.

GV (Google Ventures) and Spark Capital also participated. The company has raised approximately $226 million total.

Klarna

Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Silver Lake, GIC, Atomico, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Heartland