Klarna, a provider of buy-now-pay-later credit, is attempting to finalize a fresh capital injection that will likely value it at less than $10 billion, or just 20 percent of its value two years ago.
The buy-now, pay-later credit provider’s valuation is expected to fall below $10 billion as it finalizes plans to raise approximately $600 million from investors.
As early-stage companies scramble to shore up their balance sheets in anticipation of a turbulent economic period, The Swedish company has asked investors to commit in the coming days to a fundraising effort that is expected to conclude within weeks.
Friday, banking sources reported that Klarna had not yet finalized its new valuation, and cautioned that it was likely to settle below the $10 billion mark, though it could still be marginally higher.
It is believed that the company intends to raise approximately $600 million, although this figure could still change.
Existing Klarna investors including Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake are rumored to be planning to participate in the company’s latest funding round. In recent years, Klarna has grown rapidly to become one of Europe’s most valuable technology companies.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund is among its other shareholders.
It raised funds at a $45.6bn valuation two years ago, but in the last six weeks alone, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was seeking funding at $30bn, $15bn, and even $10bn valuations.
Its diminishing valuation ambitions are partially the result of changing economic conditions, with investors increasingly shunning tech-focused growth companies, partly increased regulatory scrutiny, and partly the emergence of buy-now, pay-later behemoths like Apple.
A Klarna representative stated, “We do not comment on fundraising or valuation rumors.”
The Silver Lake company declined to comment.
