eEquity AB, a Stockholm-based growth investor focusing on investments in digitally enabled businesses, has sold price comparison website PriceRunner to Klarna, a global retail bank founded in Sweden.
PriceRunner will bring new features in the form of product reviews, rich product discovery and price comparisons to the Klarna app to enhance the shopping, payments and banking experience for consumers globally.
eEquity invested in PriceRunner in early 2020 and Klarna will acquire PriceRunner at a valuation over SEK9 billion, bringing eEquity’s total return on investment to over 15 times. Klarna will pay 40 per cent of the price in cash and the rest with Klarna shares.
The acquisition is a strategic move by Klarna who in various ways wants to reshape itself from a bank to a broader shopping engine, with live shopping, inspiration and comparisons.
Magnus Wiberg, eEquity Managing Partner, says: “It has been fantastic to have been involved with PriceRunner from inception as a Founder and now as an investor, and to be part of the tremendous growth of its product offering and customer base throughout this period. We believe Klarna to be a very well-matched partner for PriceRunner and look forward to seeing how the business will develop further over time under their ownership.”
David Fock, Klarna’s Chief Product Officer, says: “At Klarna we constantly strive to make the banking and payments experience the best it can be, empowering consumers from product discovery to paying in a way that suits them. The acquisition will serve to strengthen our bank, card and payment services and support a competitive global landscape. It also further cements that Klarna will not be a marketplace but a viable and competitive alternative for retail partners vs Amazon, Google and Facebook. The PriceRunner team is a talented, passionate group, which will be a perfect fit and we are excited about what we can achieve together.”
Mikael Lindahl, PriceRunner’s Chief Executive Officer, says: “We have spent the last five years rebuilding PriceRunner from scratch to create a best-in-class comparison shopping service while helping retail partners improve their business. We see Klarna as the ideal partner to accelerate growth and achieve our long-term vision to become the most loved comparison shopping service in the world.”
