Monday, June 21, 2021

Swedish Fintech, Klarna, Now At $45 Billion Valuation On Latest Softbank Investment

 Just last September we were posting ""Klarna, Europe’s highest valued fintech startup, raises $650M funding round at $10.6 billion valuation"" and then I laid down to take a nap and, well, wow. 

That's quite a jump in valuation. For a private company. In nine months

From TechCrunch, June 10:

Fintech giant Klarna raises $639M at a $45.6B valuation amid 'massive momentum' in the US

Just over three months after its last funding round, European fintech giant Klarna is announcing today that it has raised another $639 million at a staggering post-money valuation of $45.6 billion.

Rumors swirled in recent weeks that Klarna had raised more money at a valuation north of $40 billion. But the Swedish buy now, pay later behemoth and upstart bank declined to comment until now.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 led the latest round, which also included participation from existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group. The new valuation represents a 47.3% increase over Klarna’s post-money valuation of $31 billion in early March, when it raised $1 billion, and a 330% increase over its $10.6 billion valuation at the time of its $650 million raise last September. Previous backers include Sequoia Capital, SilverLake, Dragoneer and Ant Group, among others.

The latest financing cements 16-year-old Klarna’s position as the highest-valued private fintech in Europe.

In an exclusive interview with TechCrunch, Klarna CEO and founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski said the company has seen explosive growth in the U.S. and plans to use its new capital in part to continue to grow there and globally.

In particular, over the past year, the fintech has seen “massive momentum” in the country, with more than 18 million American consumers now using Klarna, he said. That’s up from 10 million at the end of last year’s third quarter, and up 118% year over year. Klarna is now live with 24 of the top 100 U.S. retailers, which it says is “more than any of its competitors.”....

....MUCH MORE

If interested see also April's "Startup Continent: The Most Well-Funded Tech Startups In Europe"