New Round of Funding Brings Klarna to $45.6 Billion Valuation
Klarna’s just-revealed $639 million round of funding brings it to a valuation to $45.6 billion, which the company said will help it grow further while also supporting a keystone sustainability program, the GiveOne initiative.
GiveOne was established by Klarna earlier this year, and earmarks 1 percent of equity raised to be “directed to initiatives supporting planet health,” the company said. Its most recent round of funding was led by investors in other companies such as SpaceX, Spotify, Airbnb, GoPro and Lyft.
Klarna said the round was led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 “with additional participation from existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group, to support international expansion and further capture global retail growth.” Other investors include Sequoia Capital, SilverLake, Dragoneer, Permira, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bestseller Group, Ant Group, Northzone and GIC (which is Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund), as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and HMI.
Klarna said its current valuation makes it “the highest-valued private fintech in Europe and the second-highest worldwide.”
In its statement, the company said its platform allows shoppers to “shop, pay and bank in a smarter way” and is designed around their lives, rather than around “the requirements of the traditional payments and banking industry.”
View Gallery
Related Gallery
Kaley Cuoco on Producing ‘The Flight Attendant’
“The ongoing structural shift of consumers turning away from revolving credit lines where they incur interest or fees to debit and simultaneously seeking superior retail experiences means Klarna’s healthier, more transparent and convenient alternatives, which put consumers in control are closely aligned to evolving global consumer preferences and drive global growth,” Klarna stated.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s founder and chief executive officer, said consumers “continue to reject interest- and fee-laden revolving credit and are moving toward debit while simultaneously seeking retail experiences that better meet their needs.”
“Klarna’s more transparent and convenient alternatives align with evolving global consumer preferences and drive worldwide growth,” he added. “I’m very proud of the investors who are supporting Klarna’s ambition to challenge these outdated models to empower consumers with fair, transparent, and convenient products to help them bank, shop and pay each day.”
Yanni Pipilis, managing partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, said Klarna’s growth “is founded on a deep understanding of how the purchasing behaviors of consumers are changing, an evolution which we believe is accelerating.”
Source: Read Full Article
