The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Klarna Bank AB is raising funds valuing the Swedish fintech startup at around $31 billion, roughly tripling the company’s valuation after its most recent round in September.
The Stockholm-based company is raising around $800 million and up to $1 billion, the people said, adding the round could be announced in the coming days. Existing investors are participating ahead of a potential public listing next year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.
A Klarna spokesperson declined to comment.
The fresh funding would recrown the Swedish company as Europe’s most valuable startup after payments business Checkout.com was valued at $15 billion. Klarna in September had brought in $650 million in equity funding from investors led by Silver Lake, then valuing it at $10.65 billion. Other existing backers include Sequoia Capital Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, BlackRock Inc. and HMI Capital.
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Klarna Chief Executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski has previously indicated the company would look to publicly list in the near future but has held back on giving any precise timing.
The Swedish company’s success in online payments has made it an important challenger to traditional credit cards and firms like PayPal Holdings Inc. and Square Inc. The firm has also benefited from an accelerated shift to e-commerce during the pandemic.
Klarna has risen in popularity, especially in the US, in large part thanks to its buy-now-pay-later service. The offering lets customers pay through interest-free instalments when they shop brands like H&M or Adidas, while retailers pay Klarna a cut of purchases.
But Klarna and other buy-now-pay-later services are increasingly coming under scrutiny from regulators on concerns they allow customers to spend more than they can afford.
The UK in early February said it would start regulating the sector. Still, the prospect of tighter regulation hasn’t appeared to dampen investors’ appetite for Klarna, and the company said it would welcome more modern rules.
Swedish technology news outlet Breakit previously reported the company was raising another round of funding.
By Natalia Drozdiak, Katie Roof, Gillian Tan and Lizette Chapman.
The app, owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, has been promising to help emerging US labels get started selling in China at the same time that TikTok stares down a ban by the US for its ties to China.
Zero10 offers digital solutions through AR mirrors, leveraged in-store and in window displays, to brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Coach. Co-founder and CEO George Yashin discusses the latest advancements in AR and how fashion companies can leverage the technology to boost consumer experiences via retail touchpoints and brand experiences.
Four years ago, when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US, its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. worked out a preliminary deal to sell the short video app’s business. Not this time.
Brands are using them for design tasks, in their marketing, on their e-commerce sites and in augmented-reality experiences such as virtual try-on, with more applications still emerging.