Marqeta reached a $4 billion valuation over the last decade focusing only on prepaid and debit card issuing, and now it’s retooled its digital platform to issue credit cards, too.
The Oakland, California-based startup has added support for all types of payment cards and processing, and its first partner for credit cards is Deserve, a digital-first credit-as-a-service startup, the companies announced Wednesday.
The move comes as Marqeta is rumored to have recently filed with the SEC for an initial public offering that could launch as early as April. Marqeta executives declined to comment on those reports.
As it does with debit card programs Marqeta runs for merchants including Uber and Afterpay, Marqeta will act as issuer and processor and leave the nuts and bolts of credit card program management—including underwriting, compliance and risk management—to third parties.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based
“Bringing our digital card management program together with Marqeta’s cloud and API structure will allow us to move faster, with turnkey digital infrastructure and tools,” Kapadia said in an interview.
Marqeta's platform can issue credit cards directly into digital wallets, via tokenized and virtual cards, as well as physical cards, said Kevin Doerr, Marqeta's chief product officer.
"Our APIs offer customers a granular level of control, so companies can make adjustments to things like APRs, credit lines and rewards for individual accounts in real time," he said.
With the digital tools Marqeta developed it can to build and launch credit card programs in about 90 days, compared to months for most legacy card issuers, according to Doerr.
Marqeta got its start in 2010 with a set of customized merchant payment and loyalty programs. To drive store acceptance for some prepaid loyalty cards, Marqeta partnered with Discover Financial Services. Later the company pivoted to directly issue prepaid and debit cards on behalf of merchants.
More recently Marqeta has been working with Sutton Bank and MetaBank, Doerr said.
Credit cards are the next logical step for Marqeta to expand the use cases and reach for new and existing customers.
"You're seeing companies you wouldn't think of as financial institutions, like Apple, looking to widen access to credit products and become a one-stop-shop for all payments needs. So we wanted to be able to provide our customers with a comprehensive suite of card issuing features that allow us to power any card type," Doerr said.
