By Oliver Smith on Wednesday 4 March 2020
News comes a month after the Commonwealth Bank of Australia increased its stake in Klarna by $200m.
Chinese retail giant Alibaba has entered the European buy-now-pay-later space through a minority stake in Klarna.
Alibaba bought the stake via its payments arm Ant Financial, though the size or price of the deal was not disclosed.
As well as its investment, Ant Financial’s Alipay says it will “deepen” its partnership with Klarna, which already provides AliExpress shoppers with the ability to pay later for purchases.
“Alipay, and the wider Alibaba Group, have truly set the global pace on retail innovation and the app economy,” said Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiątkowski.
“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.”
The news comes just a month after Australia’s biggest bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, added $200m to its existing $100m stake in Klarna.
That announcement made the CBA one of Klarna’s largest minority shareholders with a 5.5% stake in the business.
