(Bloomberg) -- One of Klarna’s shareholders upped the valuation it assigns to the financial technology company ahead of its potential initial public offering next year.
Shareholder Chrysalis Investments Ltd increased the value of its stake to £120.6 million, up from the £100.3 million it assigned the holding in the second quarter, according to company filings. That gives Klarna an implied valuation of around $14.6 billion, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank AG.
Chrysalis said the move was driven by the share price appreciation of Klarna’s listed peers. Shares of Affirm Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. — financial technology companies that also offer buy now, pay later services — have climbed 145% and 59% in the last year, respectively.
A steady drumbeat of good news has helped other Klarna investors mark up their holdings in the company recently. Last year, Creades AB boosted the value of its stake in Klarna by 18% in a move that implied an overall $7.85 billion valuation for the company.
That’s an improvement from the $6.7 billion price tag it garnered in its last fundraising round in 2022, but it’s all a far cry from the $45.6 billion price tag Klarna got in a 2021 fundraising round.
A spokesperson for Klarna declined to comment on Chrysalis’ move.
Klarna shareholders last week voted to oust a member of the company’s board of directors — Mikael Walther — after he and co-founder Victor Jacobsson repeatedly clashed with Chairman Mike Moritz and Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
Despite the turbulence in its board room, Klarna has been steadily making preparations for its planned public debut and has considered seeking a valuation of around $20 billion in the offering, Bloomberg previously reported.
“We are also expectant of a Klarna IPO in due course,” Chrysalis said in the filing on Monday. “The next potential window for this appears to be the first half of 2025.”
Chrysalis said it could generate £200 million in potential liquidity from Klarna’s potential IPO and the planned sale of Featurespace — another of its portfolio companies — to Visa Inc. That should be more than enough to help the company return as much as £100 million to shareholders, Chrysalis said.
The company is also weighing starting a new investment program, which would be focused on late-stage private companies, Chrysalis said.
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