Kinnevik invests in Pleo’s USD 200 million financing round to further build on its >10x return on investment to date

9 december 2021, 7:04 AM

Kinnevik AB (publ) ("Kinnevik”) today announced that it has invested in Pleo’s USD 200m primary funding round. Kinnevik’s investment amounted to USD 25m in a blend of primary and secondary shares. The funds raised will be used to extend Pleo’s product offering beyond expense management towards a holistic suite of financial tools to clients. The funding round values Pleo at USD 4.5bn pre-money, around 180 percent higher than the valuation reflected in Kinnevik’s most recent Interim Report, and corresponds to a return on Kinnevik’s aggregate investment exceeding 10x over a three-year time span, before taking today’s announced investment into account.

Pleo today works with more than 20,000 businesses and processes their employees’ aggregate annualised spend of over USD 1bn with strong customer satisfaction scores. This combined with the wealth of data Pleo has access to compounds with the lack of innovation from incumbents and means that Pleo’s addressable market can extend well beyond expense management into the offering of a holistic suite of financial tools to their clients.

Andreas Bernström, Senior Investment Director at Kinnevik, commented: “Over the last decade, technology has simplified many aspects of everyday behaviour in a transformative way. Pleo, similar to Slack and Zoom in their respective fields, is transforming the user experience in corporate spend management. The company’s success is a combination of relentless focus on product innovation and execution across marketing, automated onboarding, and go-to-market. Perhaps most importantly, the founders have a true commitment and focus on their own staff and company culture. We believe Pleo is in a unique position to become a category winner, and all of us at Kinnevik greatly look forward to continue supporting the company going forward.”

Jeppe Rindom, CEO and Co-Founder of Pleo, commented: “Andreas and Kinnevik clearly saw the potential of what we were building early on, and it is great to have had their continued support through each of our last four funding rounds. Kinnevik is a firm with a long-term view and without investment constraints, which as a fast-growing company is a great combination of strengths to have supporting your development.”

The USD 200m financing round, co-led by Alkeon and Coatue, ascribes Pleo a valuation of USD 4.5bn pre-money. This is around 180 percent higher than the valuation of Pleo reflected in the SEK 2.0bn fair value of Kinnevik’s investment in its Interim Report for the third quarter of 2021. The reassessed fair value of Kinnevik’s investment in Pleo will be finalized and reported in Kinnevik’s Interim Report for the fourth quarter, to be published on 3 February 2022, considering a number of factors in addition to the funding round.

For further information, visit www.kinnevik.com or contact:

Torun Litzén, Director Investor Relations
Phone +46 (0)70 762 00 50
Email press@kinnevik.com

Kinnevik’s ambition is to be Europe’s leading listed growth investor, and we back the best digital companies for a reimagined everyday and to deliver significant returns. We understand complex and fast-changing consumer behaviours, and have a strong and expanding portfolio in healthtech, consumer services, foodtech and fintech. As a long-term investor, we strongly believe that investing in sustainable business models and diverse teams will bring the greatest returns for shareholders. We back our companies at every stage of their journey and invest in Europe, with a focus on the Nordics, and in the US. Kinnevik was founded in 1936 by the Stenbeck, Klingspor and von Horn families. Kinnevik’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm’s list for large cap companies under the ticker codes KINV A and KINV B.

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