The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Klarna, a European buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider, is considering raising capital at a valuation of around $15 billion. The new figure is both a dramatic decline from Klarna’s mid-2021 valuation of more than $45 billion, and the $30 billion figure it was reported to be targeting earlier this year.
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Klarna is not alone in losing value in recent quarters. Since its June 2021 fundraise, the value of fintech companies has fallen sharply. And, the European consumer point-of-sale lender has also seen a drop in the value of its best-known public comp, American BNPL player, Affirm.
But given what’s going on in the BNPL sector, Klarna’s predicament is no surprise — besides the general drop in tech companies’ worth, consumer electronics and computing giant Apple recently said it would launch a BNPL product, which also hurt Affirm’s stock.
The impact of the repricing of BNPL companies goes beyond merely Affirm and Klarna. A host of BNPL-focused startups that raised capital during the 2021 venture capital peak …
