One of Klarna's shareholders increased the valuation it assigns to the financial technology company ahead of its potential initial public offering next year.
Shareholder Chrysalis Investments raised the value of its stake to £120.6 million ($156 million), up from the £100.3 million it assigned the holding in the second quarter, according to company filings. That gives Klarna an implied valuation of about $14.6 billion, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank.
Chrysalis said the move was driven by the share price appreciation of Klarna's listed peers. Shares of Affirm and PayPal Holdings — which offer buy now, pay later services — have climbed 145% and 59% in the last year, respectively.
A steady drumbeat of good news has helped other Klarna investors mark up their holdings in the company recently. Last year, Creades boosted the value of its stake in Klarna by 18% in a move that implied an overall $7.85 billion valuation for the company.
That's an improvement from the $6.7 billion price tag it garnered in its last fundraising round in 2022, but it's all a far cry from the $45.6 billion price tag Klarna got in a 2021 fundraising round.
A spokesperson for Klarna declined to comment on Chrysalis' move.
Klarna shareholders last week voted to oust a member of the company's board of directors — Mikael Walther — after he and co-founder Victor Jacobsson repeatedly clashed with Chairman Mike Moritz and Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
The vote to oust Walther comes after the company rejiggered its board earlier this year, replacing Sequoia Capital's Matthew Miller after he unsuccessfully sought Moritz's removal. Behind the scenes of that public flip-flop were Siemiatkowski and Jacobsson, two estranged co-founders who continue to clash on key governance decisions.
Despite the turbulence in its board room, Klarna has been steadily making preparations for its planned public debut and has considered seeking a valuation of about $20 billion in the offering, Bloomberg previously reported.
"We are also expectant of a Klarna IPO in due course," Chrysalis said in the filing on Monday. "The next potential window for this appears to be the first half of 2025."
Chrysalis said it could generate £200 million in potential liquidity from Klarna's potential IPO and the planned sale of Featurespace — another of its portfolio companies — to Visa. That should be more than enough to help the company return as much as £100 million to shareholders, Chrysalis said.
Klarna is also weighing starting a new investment program, which would be focused on late-stage private companies, Chrysalis said.
