Klarna, Swedish FinTech Startup, Buys Bankrupt German Startup Cookies

Klarna, the Swedish payment service provider, is taking over Cookies, the Berlin FinTech startup that ran out of money.

According to a report, the idea behind Cookies was to make mobile money transfers easier. The startup, once upon a time, was a darling among venture capitalists, but infighting among the company’s management led Cofounder Garry Krugljakow to not sign off on capital raising, which resulted in the startup running out of money. Earlier in November, the company was forced to file for bankruptcy. Enter Klarna. According to the report, Klarna did not disclose the terms of the deal, but according to Swedish media reports, the amount paid was likely low and it was more about getting the development team at Cookies. The team of 17, which includes Cookies‘ other founder, Lamine Cheloufi, will work on projects that have yet to be decided.

“I am thrilled to become part of Klarna together with our strong team and take on new innovative projects out of Berlin. For us, this is a unique chance to join Klarna and benefit from their wealth of expertise, tech and talent,” Cheloufi said in a statement on the Cookies website. “Now, we want to devote ourselves to what we are best in — building user-friendly products.”

Klarna has been in growth mode throughout 2016, with CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski telling Reuters earlier this year that the company expects to see its revenues increase by nearly 40 percent this year as it continues growing its business in the U.S. “We’re picking up the pace in growth,” Siemiatkowski said. “This year, we’re going to add almost 10 percentage points to our growth rates, and in absolute terms, we will probably double our growth.”

Klarna, which enables “one-click” shopping and immediate payments for merchants, is going head to head in the U.S. with major payments players, like PayPal. Siemiatkowski confirmed that Klarna’s U.S. business will begin influencing the company’s growth more substantially by next year.