Former Asos director Jon Kamaluddin joins board of payments firm Klarna

Kamaluddin, who spent almost 10 years at Asos, joins the Swedish payments start-up as a non-executive director as it gears up for international expansion.  

The firm, which is valued at about $1bn ($597), brings one-click payment technology to retailers’ websites. Klarna allows consumers to receive products before taking payment. Because it only takes payment 14 days after the order has been received, shoppers can return goods before being charged.

Klarna’s board already includes Sequoia Capital partner Sir Michael Moritz, an early investor in Google and Yahoo.

Kamaluddin told Retail Week he plans to join the boards of more firms with the aim of “helping them scale and internationalise”. He spearheaded Asos’s international growth during his time at the etailer. Overseas now accounts for more than 60% of Asos’s sales.

Klarna is already available in 15 European markets and accounts for around 25% to 30% of online payments in Scandinavia. It recently launched in the UK and opened an office in London.

Klarna chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski said Kamaluddin’s experience and contacts will help the company expand both in the UK and overseas. “Jon is well known in ecommerce across the UK and that will help us here. We intend to increase the pace of internationalisation and will use the UK as a springbroad to grow across the Atlantic,” he said.

Kamaluddin said the technology can also help aid retailers expand overseas.

“One of the biggest pain points in expanding Asos globally was check-out. Adding payments was difficult and needed multiple companies. These guys have created a product that solves that problem and can be used in multiple territories,” he said.