Klarna, the Swedish buy now, pay later behemoth and upstart bank, has raised $1 billion in new funding at a post-money valuation of $31 billion. That sees the company retain the crown as the highest-valued private fintech in Europe.
The fintech has been backed by Sequoia Capital since 2010. More recent investors include Dragoneer Investment Group, BESTSELLER, Permira, Visa, Atomico, Ant Group, Silver Lake, HMI Capital LLC, TCV, Northzone, GIC and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.
Backers of this round are said to be a combination of new and existing investors, while Klarna claims it was four times oversubscribed. That’s likely prompted by reports the company is eyeing up a direct public listing and the current appetite for public tech stocks in general.
Source: Tech Crunch
By Steve O’Hear
