Ant Financial Buys Minority Stake in Swedish FinTech Klarna

China’s Ant Financial Services Group has acquired a minority stake of Klarna, Europe’s most valuable fintech startup.

As reported by Reuters on Wednesday, the Chinese giant has obtained a stake of less than 1 percent made up of existing and new shares.

Though neither of the companies officially disclosed the terms of the deals, the anonymous sources of the publication revealed that the investment was made at a “slight uptick” from the $460 million Funding Round Funding Round Startups look to raise capital can participate in a funding round. These refers to the various rounds of funding that occur upon proof of concept, customer base growth, and the probability of success. While they are various types of funding rounds, the most commonly seen in startups include the following funding rounds: Seed, Series A Fundraising, Series B Fundraising, and Series C Fundraising. In order for a funding round to take place, a valuation must be performed by analysts for the business Startups look to raise capital can participate in a funding round. These refers to the various rounds of funding that occur upon proof of concept, customer base growth, and the probability of success. While they are various types of funding rounds, the most commonly seen in startups include the following funding rounds: Seed, Series A Fundraising, Series B Fundraising, and Series C Fundraising. In order for a funding round to take place, a valuation must be performed by analysts for the business Read this Term last August.

Founded in 2005, the Swedish startup offers “buy now, pay later” services on e-commerce platforms, allowing consumers to buy online without having to provide payment details to the merchant they are buying from. Instead, Klarna pays for the order and sends an invoice to the original consumer, who then typically gets 14 to 30 days to settle.

According to Crunchbase, the startup raised a total of $1.7 billion over the years and is backed by American rapper Snoop Dogg, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and also Australia’s biggest lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which invested $200 million in January.

After the Dragoneer Investment Group-led financing round last August, the startup was valued at $5.5 billion.

China - a market with huge potential

Klarna is now focusing on expanding its services beyond Europe and entering new global markets. This tie between the two will also help the startup to tap the Chinese market, given that the country’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is an affiliate of Ant Financial.

“The current partnership where Klarna Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term are available in AliExpress should now expand to new markets globally,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna, told Reuters.

“The U.S. is often used as a benchmark of what it means to be competitive but in my world, it just does not compare to the Chinese one...The level of innovation there is just tremendous, especially in-app retail and payments - they are the global pacesetters. For Klarna, there is much more opportunity in other markets.”