Klarna continues acquisition spree with APPRL
Klarna, the buy-now-pay-later platform, has completed its third acquisition in as many weeks as it has acquired APPRL, a software as a service platform based out of Sweden.
The details of the deal have not yet been disclosed by either company but considering that APPRL is a platform that allows content creators and retailers to work together, a pattern begins to emerge in Klarna’s acquisitions as it focusses on social e-commerce and hopes to make a big breakthrough in this industry.
“As retailers continue to embrace influencer marketing as their growth engine, with an increasing focus on ROI, data, and automation, APPRL has been seeing an exponential increase in demand,” Martin Landén, CEO of APPRL, said.
“With APPRL’s platform together with Klarna’s scale, incredible talent, and portfolio of marketing services, we will be able to offer retailers an end-to-end influencer and performance marketing solution that they won’t be able to find anywhere else.”
Klarna would be looking to build an end-to-end solution for online retail shoppers as APPRL would augment its comparison shopping service platform, AI-driven styling engine, and social shopping platform (through the acquisition of HERO). With APPRL providing a platform for influencers and retail shoppers to interact and generate content around shopping, the users of Klarna would begin to have a wholesome experience as far as shopping is concerned as a social influence is brought to shopping.
Over the last 3 weeks, Klarna has acquired HERO and the payment platform Stocard as it looks to expand its reach through the European region and looks to dominate the social commerce space.
As social shopping becomes a core element of the retail experience, we believe Klarna’s position at the center of the shopping ecosystem is instrumental in connecting retailers to both consumers and content creators who resonate with their brand audiences,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, added.
“By adding APPRL to Klarna’s existing retailer support expertise, we see a huge opportunity to create an enriching and informative shopping experience for consumers everywhere while accelerating retailer growth.”
Klarna has solid backing from the Chinese investment giant, Ant Financial and Japanese SoftBank and this has helped it with mergers and acquisitions so far as it looks to consolidate its leading position. The company is currently valued at over $45 billion and these acquisitions are likely to help push its valuation even higher.
