eEquity reaps 15x on sale of PriceRunner to Klarna

The VC invested in PriceRunner in early 2020; with the deal valuing PriceRunner at more than SEK 9bn, eEquity's total return on investment is set to exceed 15x. Klarna will pay 40% of the price in cash and the rest with Klarna shares.

The acquisition will bring new features in the form of product reviews, product discovery and price comparisons to the Klarna app to enhance user experience, the firms said in a statement. They also highlighted that the acquisition is a strategic move by Klarna as it seeks to reshape itself from a bank to a broader shopping engine, competing with the likes of Amazon and Google.

Klarna is Europe's most valuable VC-backed business. In June, SoftBank led a USD 639m funding round for the Sweden-based fintech business, valuing it at USD 45.6bn.

Previous funding
In 2001, PriceRunner attracted EUR 4m in expansion financing from a syndicate of investors. Returning investor NewMedia Spark (Spark Ventures) led the round; other participants in the syndicate included previous investors Bonier Group and Atle Group, together with new investor TeleDanmark.

In 2004, Spark Ventures sold its 41% stake in PriceRunner for USD 33m.

In 2006, Northzone sold its stake in the company to US-based Value Click, a provider of customer acquisition services, for an undisclosed amount.

Company
PriceRunner is a comparison shopping service operating primarily in the Nordic region, with a presence in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the UK. Its platform allows consumers to compare products, offers and attributes, and to take part in professional product tests and user reviews of products and retailers. The platform compares 3.4 million products from 22,500 retailers in 25 countries.

PriceRunner employs 170 people.

People
eEquity – Magnus Wiber (managing partner).
PriceRunner – Mikael Lindahl (CEO).

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