Set to be the most valuable European startup...

Swedish payments firm Klarna has nearly tripled its valuation to $31 billion in less than six months.

The company, which counts U.S. store Macy's as an investor, on Monday (March 1) said it's the result of a new $1 billion private fundraising round.

The latest round for the "buy now pay later" firm was oversubscribed four times.

That puts the fintech on par with many of Europe's biggest listed financial houses.

At $31 billion, the company's value is comparable to the likes of Barclays and Credit Suisse.

And makes it larger than Germany's biggest lender, Deutsche Bank.

But questions remain over the "buy now pay later" business model.

Particularly during the health crisis, with countries keen to prevent consumers from over-extending themselves.

But investors seem undeterred, and the latest deal caps a meteoric rise in value for Klarna.

Sources say more than 30 new and existing investors took part in the latest funding round.

Klarna has been widely rumoured to be among a number of tech companies mulling a public listing.

With some industry experts expecting a New York IPO in the near future.