Sofort AG

What Sofort AG does

Sofort AG was a German online payment services company headquartered in Gauting, Germany, founded in 2005. Its core product, SOFORT Überweisung, was an online bank transfer payment method that allowed consumers in Europe — particularly in German-speaking markets — to pay merchants directly from their bank account using their own online banking credentials, without requiring a credit card or separate registration. The product was positioned as a credit-card-free alternative for e-commerce checkouts and gained distribution across a broad base of European merchants.

The company operated under a regulated payment-institution framework and was recognized as one of approximately 80 mainstream payment institutions and wallets profiled in industry overviews, reflecting established merchant integration in DACH and broader European e-commerce. Its business model relied on transaction-based payment processing fees paid by merchants accepting SOFORT Überweisung at checkout, though specific pricing and contract terms were not publicly disclosed in available sources.

In a material corporate restructuring, Sofort AG was acquired by Klarna, with SOFORT Überweisung subsequently rebranded and integrated into Klarna's payment ecosystem rather than continuing as a standalone Sofort AG offering. The legal entity appears to operate as a subsidiary under Klarna's corporate umbrella. Sofort AG's pre-acquisition footprint included 51–100 employees and a single core product, with Karin Heck serving as CMO and Michael Eberhardt as CPO.

Name

Sofort AG

Legal name

Sofort AG

Website

https://sofort.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Sofort AG is a German online payment services company that operated SOFORT Überweisung, a direct bank-transfer payment method enabling European consumers to pay online without a credit card. The company has been acquired by Klarna and its product integrated into Klarna's payment platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Payment Processing

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

akta.pro primary industry

A2A Checkout & Merchant Acceptance Solutions (FSAMAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Merchant Payment Gateways (API/Hosted Checkout) (FSAMACAA), Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) Enablement (BNPL, wallets, local methods) (FSAMACAE)

Keywords

• Online bank transfer
• Payment processing
• Direct debit payments
• E-commerce payments
• Fintech services

Headquarters

HQ city

Gauting

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Core offering

Sofort AG provided SOFORT Überweisung, an online payment method that allowed consumers in Europe to make secure payments directly from their bank accounts using their own online banking credentials, without requiring a credit card or additional registration. The service was offered to online merchants as a checkout option and has since been integrated into Klarna's payment platform.

Product overview

Sofort AG offered a single unified payment product known as SOFORT Überweisung, which was an online payment method enabling direct bank transfers. The company has since been acquired by Klarna, and the SOFORT Überweisung product has been rebranded and integrated into Klarna's payment ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SOFORT Überweisung An online bank transfer payment method that allows consumers to pay directly from their bank account using their own online banking credentials, without requiring a credit card or additional registration; offered to online merchants across Europe and now integrated into Klarna's payment platform.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• KlarnacoreOthersSOFORTÜberweisung was rebranded and is now integrated into Klarna's platform. The service has been transitioned to Klarna's payment ecosystem, making Klarna the parent/owner entity for the Sofort payment technology.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Trustly: Trustly is a leading European A2A online banking payment provider, directly comparable to SOFORT Überweisung. Both deliver consumer-to-merchant direct bank transfer checkouts across multiple European countries and compete for the same merchant relationships.
• Mollie: Mollie is a European payment service provider offering multiple local payment methods, including A2A-style bank transfer options, targeted at SMB and mid-market merchants — closely overlapping Sofort's merchant value proposition.
• Ratepay: Ratepay is a Berlin-based payment service provider offering A2A direct debit and online bank transfer methods to European merchants. It competes with Sofort in the German and broader European A2A checkout market.

Broad incumbents

• Klarna: Klarna is the parent of Sofort AG and the operator into which SOFORT Überweisung has been integrated. Klarna itself competes broadly in European checkout with Pay-in-Later, A2A, and merchant acquiring capabilities, overlapping with Sofort's historical offering at the merchant level.
• Adyen: Adyen is a global payments platform offering unified online, mobile, and in-store checkout, including local European A2A methods. It competes with Sofort's merchant-side payment acceptance at the enterprise level across European markets.
• Stripe: Stripe provides global online payment infrastructure with broad European coverage and is increasingly supporting local A2A payment methods. It competes with Sofort for European merchant checkout volume, especially among digital-native merchants.
• Worldline: Worldline is a major European payment processor with acquiring, merchant services, and local A2A method support. It overlaps with Sofort's merchant payment acceptance and operates across Germany and DACH markets.
• PayPal: PayPal offers a broad consumer wallet and merchant checkout across Europe, including competing checkout alternatives to A2A bank transfers. It is a comparable incumbent at the European online checkout moment Sofort serves.

Regional players

• iDEAL: iDEAL is the dominant A2A online payment scheme in the Netherlands. Although it serves a different national market than Sofort's core German-speaking base, the two compete in the broader European A2A checkout category.
• giropay: giropay is the German online bank-transfer payment scheme. It directly competes with SOFORT Überweisung in Sofort's home German market and overlaps substantially in merchant acceptance for A2A bank transfer payments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SOFORTAG
• Facebookfacebook.com/sofort.ag
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sofortgmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sofort AG