Klarna continues to be the highest-valued private fintech in Europe and the second-highest worldwide.

Klarna, the Swedish fintech best known for its buy-now-pay-later offering, announced today its raise of $639 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. It included participation by Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group, all existing investors. The fintech achieved a post-money valuation of a staggering $45.6 billion. (Klarna)

The current round followed its monster $1 billion round in March at a valuation of $31 billion. It means the valuation has jumped by nearly half in a matter of a three months.

Solid growth

Klarna’s payment, banking and shopping services are available to 18 million customers and over 250,000 retailers across the globe.

During the first quarter of 2021, Klarna clocked a GMV of over $ 18.9 billion. Downloads of the company’s app have surged to 125% year-on-year 2021, and it is now live with 24 of the top 100 US retailers.

The U.S. market is proving highly lucrative for the company. The volume of payments processed by the fintech in the US jumped 296 per cent in the fourth quarter, and according to the FT, its American business would soon be “multiple times larger than our current business today.”

“Consumers continue to reject interest-and fee-laden revolving credit and are moving toward debit while simultaneously seeking retail experiences that better meet their needs,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, founder and CEO, said in a statement. “More transparent and convenient alternatives align with evolving global consumer preferences and drive worldwide growth,” he added.

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