A bit more info on the Klarna raising (below). For those of you that may have missed it, Klarna posted a net loss of SEK1.38b (~A$210m), which was 52% higher than the prior year. Their loss in the 2nd half of the year was also 49% higher than the first half. Klarna is now valued ~10% more than Afterpay, despite growing revenue at less than half the rate Afterpay is.

Klarna raises another $US1b to take on Afterpay

James EyersSenior Reporter

Mar 2, 2021 – 9.48am

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One of Afterpay’s and Zip’s biggest competitors in the United States, Klarna, has raised a further $US1 billion ($1.29 billion) as the land grab to sign up American merchants for buy now, pay later accelerates.

Klarna said the raising was four times oversubscribed. It was not immediately clear if Commonwealth Bank, which owns about 5 per cent of Klarna having invested $US300 million in two tranches in August 2019 and January 2020, backed the latest offering.

Klarna’s raising comes hot on the heels of a $1.5b convertible note issued by Afterpay last week.

Klarna said the new funds, which will be used to turbocharge growth in the US, were hauled in at a post-money valuation of $US31 billion.

This puts Klarna in between the valuations of Afterpay and Affirm: Afterpay was trading at $36 billion on the ASX on Monday while Affirm, which listed on the Nasdaq in January, is trading at $23 billion after its shares doubled on the first day. Zip, which owns Quadpay, is capitalised at $6 billion on the ASX, while Sezzle is valued at $1 billion.