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Klarna held out for a hero. On Friday, the fintech company said it bought Hero, an e-comm tech startup, as it expands into social commerce.
- The deal will run Klarna about $160 million, sources told the WSJ. Whether it pays later is 🤷.
- The company earlier acquired Toplooks, an AI tech platform that specializes in shoppable content.
The setup: Hero connects online shoppers with retail employees via texts, videos, and virtual chat rooms through its app. Better customer service = more $$.
- The London-based company was founded in 2015 and already works with brands like Levi’s, Rag & Bone and Chloé. There’s also some overlap with Klarna's existing roster, including Nike and Adidas.
- For those not in the know, Klarna will intro Hero to its 250,000 partners.
The payoff: Klarna wants to turn retailers into personalities and content creators, rather than just brands. “We see a huge opportunity to leverage Hero’s existing platform and expertise to allow in-store retail professionals to become global brand ambassadors,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in a statement.
- Staffers are the new influencers, and retailers are rushing to build brand ambassador programs to tap into that trust.—JG