Marqueta Expands to Include Consumer Cards

Need to Know

• A new platform from Marqeta will offer underwriting, compliance, and risk management services to help brands develop their own consumer credit card programs
• The global card-issuing platform already offers prepaid, debit, and virtual cards, in addition to working with companies such as Mastercard and Goldman Sachs.
• Marqueta’s credit card-issuing platform comes just days after the fintech filed for an IPO.

Analysis

Marqueta has launched a credit-card issuing platform, marking a big step for the card-issuing brand that has traditionally worked with banks—rather than brands—to issue payments cards.

The new platform, which Marqueta announced on February 19, will see the fintech offering underwriting, compliance, and risk management services to brands that want to develop their own consumer credit card programs. Marqueta currently offers debit, prepaid, and virtual card-issuing; the addition of a credit card platform makes the company a one-stop-shop for card issuing—which may prove beneficial to the IPO filing that Marqueta made just yesterday.

“Expanding the Marqeta platform to service modern innovators building disruptive new credit products establishes us as a truly comprehensive modern card issuing platform. We’re excited to bring a decade of experience pushing the boundaries of what a card can do, toward helping our customers build truly modern credit card products,” said Jason Gardner, founder and CEO of Marqeta. “This past year has shown us that the future of digital payments is arriving faster than we could have anticipated, and the demand for seamless and intuitive experiences for any type of payment is not going to slow down.”

Marqeta’s credit card issuing platform will be API-driven, and will allow brands to launch credit card products quickly, featuring flexible controls and features, including rewards, APR, and credit lines. The platform will provide brands with access to a dashboard where they can easily adjust credit products. Credit cards can be approved — and added to cardholders’ digital wallets — instantly.

According to Reuters, Marqueta’s IPO valuation could be as high as $10 billion; the company is working with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase on the offering. Marqueta benefitted throughout 2020 from the increase in need for innovative, contactless payments processing and issuing capabilities, such as prepaid and virtual cards. Marqueta raised $150 million in a private fundraising round in May, which at the time doubled its $4.2 billion.

Marqueta’s current customer based includes Cash App, Affirm, Instacart and DoorDash. The company was also recently tapped by Goldman to launch checking accounts for Marcus, Goldman’s consumer banking app, and received an investment from Mastercard in October 2020, though the terms of that investment were not disclosed.