Deferred payments app Klarna soared to a valuation of $45.6 billion in its latest fundraising round — buoyed by an investment from Japan’s SoftBank.
The “buy-now-pay-later” firm, which raised $639 million Thursday, is now Europe’s most valuable privately-held financial technology company.
Like competitors Afterpay and Affirm, Stockholm-based Klarna lets consumers take home items then pay for them later through a series of smaller payments with interest. Think of it as “layaway with a twist.”
The company’s retail partners include H&M, IKEA, Sacks, Macy’s, Urban Outfitters and Etsy. In total, it has partnerships with 250,000 brands and boasts 18 million users worldwide, according to the company.
Even despite hesitance among some cash-strapped consumers during the pandemic, Klarna has thrived — more than quadrupling its valuation in the past year.
In a September 2020 fundraising round, the company was valued at $11 billion. In March 2021, that number was $31 billion.
Klarna is mulling going public sometime soon in either London or New York, the Financial Times reported.
Klarna is “aggressively going after the US market,” analyst Dan Ives told the Post. Levine-Roberts/Sipa USA
Wedbush securities tech analyst Dan Ives attributed Klarna’s astonishing valuation surge to its potential for growth, especially
