Klarna's valuation apparently falls to $6.5 billion

A new round of financing is said to be imminent at the fintech - but on worsened terms.

The Swedish fintech Klarna is currently valued at 46 billion US dollars. This made Klarna one of the most valuable startups in Europe. Now the fintech is about to raise its next round of funding. However, the new deal is expected to value the company at just $6.5 billion, as the Financial Times reports. The new valuation is Klarna's lowest since August 2019, when the company was valued at $5.5 billion, it said. In the current funding round, Sequoia Capital and Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala would seek to invest $600 million in the fintech.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson founded the "buy now, pay later" provider in 2005. US investor Sequoia Capital has been on board since 2010. In subsequent years, well-known investors such as Silver Lake, Atomico, Blackrock, Permira and Softbank have joined. During the pandemic, Klarna benefited from the rise in online trade. But this high-flying period is now likely to be over. This is also made clear by the announced mass layoffs. It was only recently announced that the fintech plans to lay off ten percent of its global workforce.