Marqeta

Marqeta is a card-issuing platform that provides the infrastructure for enterprises to offer physical and digital payment cards through its open application programming interface (API). Marqeta also enables its enterprise customers to issue cards, authorize transactions, and manage payment operations. Marqeta’s RiskControl solution helps its card issuing customers with risk, compliance, and fraud management. 

The company also launched a credit card-issuing solution that allows users to offer consumer and commercial credit card programs, Marqeta for Banking which comprises of demand deposit accounts, direct deposits, ACH (with Plaid integration), cash loads and fee-free ATMs, Bill Pay, and instant funding, and Marqeta Docs AI (powered by OpenAI’s LLMs) to enable users to navigate through Martqeta’s Docs and reduce their overall time to value. 

Marqeta subsequently acquired Power Finance, Inc., a credit card program management platform, for USD 275 million in January 2023 (completed in February 2023). Through the acquisition, Marqeta plans to improve its credit products offering for its customers, by combining its rewards innovations with that of Power’s and leveraging the latter’s data science toolbox and solutions to embed experiences within mobile and web apps. 

Key customers and partnerships

The platform was available in over 40 countries as of July 2023, when it partnered with Brazilian BaaS infrastructure provider Fitbank to expand its offering to Brazil.

In July 2024, Marqeta partnered with Visa and BNPL platform Affirm to enable Visa Flexible Credential, which allows users to access multiple payment methods, such as debit, credit, BNPL, and rewards points, via a single card. In November 2023, Marqeta announced extending multiple partnerships, namely with Block, and partnered with Credit2. 

In October 2023, Marqeta partnered with Scalapay, an Italian buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider, to expand its product reach by allowing Scalapay to leverage its platform to issue virtual cards. In March 2023, Marqeta partnered with WorkWhile, a labor technology company, to offer a new debit card solution for the latter’s hourly workers enabling them to access their wages as soon as their shift hours are approved. 

In March 2020, upon earning the certification to process payments in 10 Asia-Pacific nations, Marqeta expanded its operations to Australia in partnership with Klarna (a buy now and pay later platform). Subsequently, in July 2022, Marqeta partnered with Canopy Servicing to offer buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and lending solutions to banks, credit unions, and enterprise fintechs.

Marqeta was chosen by Google in July 2021, to power the virtual “Google Play” balance card. Moreover, in June 2022, cross-border money movement giant, Western Union adopted Marqeta’s infrastructure to launch physical and virtual cards (for fund disbursements). 

Marqeta reported a 10% YoY decline in total revenue to USD 676.2 million for FY2023, from USD 748.2 million recorded in FY2022. The company reported adjusted EBITDA loss of USD 2.3 million for FY2023 (translating to an adjusted EBITDA margin of -0.3%), compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of USD 41.8 million recorded in FY2022 (translating to an adjusted EBITDA margin of -5.6%).