Klarna becomes Europe’s highest-valued private fintech, following $650m funding round

Klarna has become Europe’s highest-valued private fintech, following a $650m (£504m) funding round.

The Swedish payments company is now valued at $10.65bn (£8.26bn). 

The deal pushes Klarna ahead of Revolut and Checkout, which had all been valued at $5.5bn (£4.27bn) before Klarna’s latest fundraise, according to CB Insights’ unicorn tracker.

The raise is higher than the $500m (£388m) it had been tipped to be. Sources have previously said the funding round could be the last before Klarna undergoes an IPO.

Klarna’s fundraise, which makes it the fourth highest-valued private fintech globally, was led by Silver Lake with financing also from GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and BlackRock and HMI Capital.

Merian Chrysalis, TCV, Northzone and Bonnier have also acquired shares in Klarna, whose buy-now-pay-later alternative credit-card model has proved particularly popular in Europe.

Current investors in Klarna include Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and co-founder of Klarna, said the company was now at a “true inflection point”.

He said: “We are at a true inflection point in both retail and finance. The shift to online retail is now truly supercharged and there is a very tangible change in the behaviour of consumers who are now actively seeking services which offer convenience, flexibility and control in how they pay and an overall superior shopping experience.”

“Klarna’s unique proposition, consumer preference and global retailer network will prove an excellent platform for further growth. The Klarna team is honoured to welcome such world-class investors to support our mission to become the world’s favourite way to shop.” 

Jonathan Durham, managing director, Silver Lake, said: “Klarna is one of the most disruptive and promising fintech companies in the world, redefining the ecommerce experience for millions of consumers and global retailers, just as ecommerce growth is accelerating worldwide and rapidly shifting to mobile.”

Klarna said the funding would be used to help further invest in its shopping offering and boost its global expansion, particularly in the US, where Klarna now has more than nine million customers.

Amid the pandemic, and a move to online shopping, Klarna said it had added more than 35,000 new retailers during the first half of 2020 to its network of more than 200,000 retail partners.

It said volumes and revenues had grown 44 per cent and 36 per cent year-on-year to more than $22m (£17.1m) and $466m (£361m) respectively.

But Klarna suffered a seven-fold increase in losses in the first half of 2020, with losses over $63m (£49m).