Fintech

BNPL giant Klarna spends $133M to nab German shopping app Stocard

Gains access to the claimed 60 million users Stocard boasts

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) juggernaut Klarna is on a roll.

The Swedish based fintech developer just closed a $639 million equity funding round with a post-money valuation of $45.6 billion in June. Now, its working hard on its acquisitions.

According to a Friday press release, Klarna shelled out $133 million (€113 million) to purchase the German discount shopping app Stocard.

This is the second acquisition in the last two weeks for the BNPL giant ― the previous being startup HERO, the retail tech platform that connects online shoppers with in-store retail associates via text messages, videos and online chat rooms. That one cost them $160 million.

With the addition of Stocard, Klarna is tapping into the app’s claimed user base of 60 million people, boosting its reach even further into the EU. The tech bundles customer cards into a single app for users to quickly be able to switch between. It also informs the users of any discounts and promotions and has included an integrated payment function for several years.

Klarna, on the other hand, empowers shoppers with flexible payments solutions with retailers like Lenovo Macy’s, Footlocker, Etsy and thousands of other stores across multiple categories. Users can leverage BNPL capabilities with four interest-free payments and no credit impact via the company’s instant approval process.

The Klarna app is also driving massive user engagement, with 3.5 million monthly active users as of the end of December, an increase of 204% year over year, our reporting in February showed. The app averaged 60,000 new daily downloads in December and was among the top 10 most downloaded shopping apps in the US during Q4 2020, according to Apptopia.

While the German press continues to heavily report on the acquisition, Klarna has yet to make any public comment. However, its an attractive step forward for the BNPL space. Most, if not all, of Klarna’s acquisitions have been to enhance customer’s experience.

Purchasing HERO allows for greater insight and partnerships and Stocard could assist in application streamlining and more enticing purchases given the variety of discounts. The company also scooped up AI-based retail tech firm Toplooks in March as well as customer experience business Woila in 2020.

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