Klarna, the leading global disruptor of payments and banking, and provider of smoooth retail services, announced it has raised $460 million in an equity funding round, at a post money valuation of $5.5 billion. This investment follows a funding round in April of this year that closed above the company’s $100 million target.
This new valuation ranks Klarna as the largest private fintech in Europe and as one of the largest private fintechs globally.
„This funding will help Klarna to continue its rapid rise in the US market, where it is currently growing at an annual rate of 6 million new US consumers.”, the company says.
The uniqueness of Klarna’s consumer offering, providing an alternative to credit cards, with the addition of multiple services to smoothen the shopping experience, online and offline, is clearly resonating with the US consumer. This is as consumers are turning away from revolving credit lines towards alternative and more flexible financing alternatives.
„Most importantly, Klarna’s recently launched shopping app which allows its users to shop with Klarna at any store or brand online has been received very positively, with 3x more daily downloads than any of our direct competitors and with now more than 50% of the app users purchasing each week.”, according to the press release.
Klarna has also seen a surge in merchant demand for its services. Klarna is now powering over 3000 merchants in the US and helping them increase new consumer acquisition, average order value and retention. The business results are strong, with merchants who are offering ‘Pay in 4’ reporting a 68% increase in average order value, a 44% increase in conversion compared to cards and 21% higher purchase frequency.
There are currently more than a 1000 merchants integrating with Klarna with a combined volume of $10bn. The momentum of acquisition continues and in July a record number of new merchants signed with Klarna in the US.
Klarna’s footprint continues to grow, now serving over 60 million consumers, 130,000 merchants partners, 1 million transactions daily and is in sight of a $1 billion annual revenue.
„We are therefore delighted to announce that with the participation of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia’s largest retail and commercial bank, in the equity round, we have also agreed to establish an exclusive partnership for the Australian and New Zealand markets.”, added the company.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna: “This is a decisive time in the history of retail banking. Finally, transparency, technology and creativity will serve the consumer, and there will be no more room for unimaginative products, non-transparent terms of use or lack of genuine care of ones customers. We, all 2500 of us at Klarna, are humbled and honoured, and now also further empowered, to play a role in this improvement of an industry for the benefit of the consumer, worldwide and in the US in particular. ”
Marc Stad, Founding Partner at Dragoneer: “Our strategy is to partner with a small number of disruptive, growth companies that are highly differentiated and run by world-class management teams. Sebastian and the Klarna team have built an exceptional payments business with a global footprint, operating in a huge addressable market with strong tailwinds.”
Richard Watts, Merian Chrysalis Investment Company: “Klarna has built a highly-impressive, digital payment ecosystem, trusted by both retailers and consumers. By simplifying and improving the flexibility of the payments process, retail partners working with Klarna have seen considerable improvement in customer engagement and sales. Klarna is one of Europe’s great fintech success stories and the company continues to develop truly innovative payment solutions. This latest funding round will enable the company to execute on its ambitious international growth plans.”
Numis acted as exclusive financial advisor and placement agent to Klarna.*
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
