According to reports in foreign media, Europe's highest market value fintech company Klarna recently announced that China's Ant Financial had obtained small shares of the company and the two parties would enhance their online shopping cooperation relationship.
The Swedish company's app was already integrated into AliExpress, an international shopping platform run by Alibaba Group.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, said that the current cooperation relationship, in which AliExpress provided Klarna payment to users, should be expanded to the global market. He also revealed that Klarna and Ant Financial would develop new products.
Klarna was established in 2005 and its investors included the famous rapper Snoop Dogg, US venture capital Sequoia Capital, and Australia's largest loan institution Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Klarna's service allows users to purchase online without providing payment information to vendors. During the shopping process, Klarna will pay for the goods first and consumers can repay to Klarna later.
It is said that Ant Financial's shareholding in Klarna is less than 1%, including existing and newly acquired shares.
