Technology-focused investor eEquity has sealed a 15x return with the SEK9bn ($1.05bn) sale of PriceRunner to Swedish online payments provider Klarna, after holding it for less than two years.
Klarna will pay 40% of the price in cash and the rest with shares. The firm said it was a strategic move for Klarna to acquire the price comparison site to reshape itself to a broader shopping engine enabling live shopping, inspiration and comparisons.
Magnus Wiberg, managing partner at eEquity, said “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.”
PE-backed Klarna raised more than $639m in a private fundraising round in June, led by Japan’s SoftBank to boost its valuation to almost $46bn, making it the second-biggest FinTech startup by valuation after Stripe.
eEquity hit an SEK 1.6bn ($187.1m) final close for its new fund in January, targeting e-commerce and internet retailing. It picked up €37.5m towards that total as the first investment from the European Scale-up Action for Risk capital (ESCALAR) programme, a joint initiative between the European Commission and European Investment Fund.
The firm raised SEK750m ($87.7m) for its predecessor fund in 2015.
Investments from eEquity include vertical digital native brands such as NA-KD, iDeal of Sweden, TwistShare, Aim’n and PS of Sweden.
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