Sifted - Klarna's streak in the black

Good morning there,

Swedish fintech Klarna reported another quarter of profitability yesterday, continuing a streak in the black that puts the buy now, pay later lender one step closer to reporting full-year profitability — something it last achieved in 2018. More on that below.

Elsewhere today:

• The most active healthtech investors in Europe

— Tom Matsuda, reporter

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🔥 Klarna’s profitability streak has continued into the third quarter of this year, after the company filed for an initial public offering in the US earlier this month.

• The Swedish buy now, pay later fintech yesterday posted a net profit of SEK 216 million (€18.7m) for the third quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 57%. This continues Klarna’s move into the black after it reported an adjusted operating profit of 673m SEK (€57.2m) for the first six months of the year.

🇬🇧 The UK’s Invest in Women Taskforce — set up to increase investment in women-led companies and improve access to money for founders — has raised more than £250m from Barclays, M&G, the British Business Bank, Morgan Stanley, Visa Foundation, BGF and Aviva. The money will be deployed by female investment-decision makers across the UK. The initiative is led by multi-exit entrepreneur Debbie Wosskow and the head of Barclays’ Business Bank Hannah Bernard.

🩺 As healthtech funding in Europe in 2024 increases year-on-year for the first time since 2021, Sifted looks at which investors have been the busiest making deals. 

• Spoiler alert: VC firms in the DACH region make up half of the top 10, with UK- and France-based investors completing the roster. They’ve all played their part in a 2024 funding story that’s seen healthtechs pick up $10.4bn so far this year — an increase on the $9.7bn raised in 2023 (comparable Dealroom data).
• The most active healthtech VC did 33 deals in 2024. Can you guess who it is?

👀 The Northvolt dilemma: can European EVs avoid relying on Asian batteries? (Financial Times)

🪫 How Trump’s tariffs could drive up the cost of batteries, EVs, and more. (MIT Technology Review)

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🤩 Sifted 30: Eastern Europe and the Baltics. We’ve ranked the 30 fastest-growing companies across the region in 2024. Download it here.

🚀 B2B SaaS Rising 100. From soonicorn to unicorn, we’ve ranked the ultimate list of B2B SaaS startups that we believe will someday join the ranks of the $1bn-plus valuations. Download it here. 

Luxembourg-based Emma, a cloud management platform to help businesses scale cloud infrastructure, raised $17m in Series A funding. Smartfin led the round and was joined by investors including RTP Global. 

Zurich, Switzerland-based Kyan Health, which uses predictive analytics to help companies improve employee wellbeing, raised $16.7m in funding.

• The round includes a $4m seed round led by Amplo VC and a $12.7m Series A led by Swisscom Ventures and investors including GreyMatter Capital and NaturalX Health Ventures.

Paris-based Metron, which helps industrial companies optimise and reduce their energy consumption, raised €12.5m in funding. Get Fund led the round and was joined by investors including BNP Paribas, Climate Investment and Vertigo.

Amsterdam-based Norbr, a platform for payment operators to integrate with new partners, raised €3m in funding. Alstin Capital led the round and was joined by investors including PortfoLion Capital Partners.

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