Klarna's quarterly transaction value nearly doubles in Q1

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish "buy now, pay later" company Klarna on Friday reported a jump in transactions using its platform in the January to March quarter, helped mainly by growth in the United States.

Klarna's gross merchandise volume (GMV) - the value of transactions made using its payment platform - nearly doubled to $18.9 billion in the first quarter from $9.9 billion a year ago.

The number of U.S. consumers using Klarna more than doubled to 17 million in April 2021 and app downloads in the country increased 125%, the company said in a statement.

Klarna, which allows shoppers to buy online through its merchant partners and settle their dues in installments, is close to raising a new round of funding that could lift the company's valuation close to $50 billion, sources have told Reuters.

The company, which has over 90 million global active users and processes 2 million transactions a day, plans to launch in more markets this year, with New Zealand going live in May.

Klarna, which is also looking to list on public markets either later this year or the next, competes with Affirm and Afterpay.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Helena Soderpalm and Jan Harvey)