Europe’s most valuable fintech startup Klarna with its “buy now, pay later” model has closed a new investment round and received the evaluation of over USD 40 billion, Incrussia reports citing Business Insider sources.

The amount of funding is not disclosed yet, but according to a source, it could be about USD 500 million. This would allow Klarna to increase its current value of USD 31 billion to USD 40-50 billion. In total, the startup has raised USD 3 billion in private funding.

Under the terms of the deal, SoftBank will double its stake in Klarna. The company is listed on the SoftBank website as a portfolio company. This indicates that the investment giant participated in the March round, although it was not publicly announced. Back then Klarna raised USD 1 billion for international expansion and product development. Klarna and SoftBank declined to comment.



Klarna has been operating since 2005. It started as an online payment service and received a banking license only in 2017. Klarna means “clear” in Swedish. “We want to be simple and clear in everything we do, because life is already complicated,” the fintech says on its website.

Klarna has divided the purchase and the payment. The store received money for the goods immediately from Klarna, and the buyer paid the bank when the order was delivered. Later, credit products were added to the interest-free installment plan.

According to the co-founder of Klarna Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the business was based on the idea to solve the problem of mistrust between the online store and the customer.

Klarna cooperates with H&M, Nike, and Peloton among others. The service has 90 million users worldwide, 60 million of which are in the USA. According to the 2020 report, Klarna’s net operating income reached USD 1.09 billion - a 40% increase compared to 2019.

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