Klarna raises new finance, value approaches $46bn

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 11, 2021

Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) giant Klarna has raised new capital in a deal that not only values it at a massive $45.6 billion but gives it a valuation as much as $14 billion higher than its last fundraising round as recently as March.

The deal sees the Swedish firm valued more highly than many long-established European banks and makes it now the biggest fintech operation by value in Europe. It’s also at number two globally behind e-payments group Stripe.

The company has sold $639 million worth of new shares to existing investors, including SoftBank, with those shareholders clearly being happy to pay the price premium.

Their willingness to invest at a higher price comes as BNPL continues to grow in popularity for online retail, with fashion retailers being among the biggest users of it.

And with the new cash, it could grow even more because the company plans to use the additional investment to help it with its international expansion. It has two new market launches planned this year, in addition to a Canadian launch next week and its recent debut in France.

In markets in which it's already available it has been accelerating its presence with the UK seeing 15 million customers using it, for example. It claims to have 90 million active users globally and to process two million transactions daily. Yet it remains loss-making at this stage.