Ant Financial Services, the owner and operator of Chinese payments platform Alipay, has acquired a minority stake in Klarna, an online financial services provider, for an undisclosed amount.
The transaction is said to be a part of the expansion of partnership between the two companies, with an aim to deliver more advanced and convenient financial services to their consumers around the world.
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiątkowski said: “For too long consumers have had to endure non-intuitive, boring and overly complex services when shopping both online and offline. At the heart of this cooperation between Klarna and Alipay is a shared ambition of innovating truly superior shopping experiences and creating destinations of inspiration for consumers across the world.
“Alipay, and the wider Alibaba Group, have truly set the global pace on retail innovation and the app economy. We are delighted in this confidence shown in Klarna in defining the future of payments and shopping and are very much looking forward to working together further in the future.”
Klarna will continue in current markets and enter into new markets
Ant Financial’s investment in Klarna is expected to support the further development of Klarna’s advanced solutions, and serve the consumers and merchants within the Alibaba ecosystem.
In addition, the investment is said to strengthen the existing collaboration between Klarna and Alipay, which enables shoppers at Alibaba’s global retail online marketplace AliExpress, to use Klarna’s ‘Pay later’ solution.
Established in 2005, Klarna offers payments, social shopping, and personal finances to consumers and retailers.
The company is currently serving more than 200,000 retailers and e-commerce platforms across the world, including AliExpress, H&M, ASOS, Expedia Group, IKEA, Farfetch, Adidas, Spotify, Samsung and Nike.
