Klarna has raised $460 million in an equity investment round, at a valuation of $5.5 billion, to help fund its push into the US market.

The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, alongside Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HMI Capital, Merian Chrysalis Investment Company, Första AP-Fonden (AP1), IPGL, IVP and funds managed by BlackRock.

This investment follows funding in April that closed above the company’s $100 million target, driven by strong demand from Klarna’s existing investor base.

The payments FinTech is currently growing at an annual rate of six million new US consumers, as they increasingly turn away from revolving credit lines towards alternative and more flexible financing alternatives.

Klarna has also seen a surge in downloads of its recently launched shopping app, and is now powering over 3000 merchants in the US, including rue21, Lulus, Toms, Superdry, Sonos and Acne Studios.

Just yesterday, ASOS announced the expansion of its original UK partnership to extend into the US market.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and chief executive of Klarna, called this a decisive time in the history of retail banking.

“Finally, transparency, technology and creativity will serve the consumer, and there will be no more room for unimaginative products, non-transparent terms of use or lack of genuine care of ones customers.”

Richard Watts, fund manager at Merian Chrysalis, added: “By simplifying and improving the flexibility of the payments process, retail partners working with Klarna have seen considerable improvement in customer engagement and sales – Klarna is one of Europe’s great FinTech success stories and the company continues to develop truly innovative payment solutions.”

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