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Marqeta

Also a provider — view Marqeta’s profile →

“Can a modern card-issuing API platform become the broader embedded finance infrastructure layer (accounts, money movement, credit, BNPL distribution) for banks and fintechs?”

Founded2010
HQOakland, California, USA
FoundersJason Gardner
Total raised$528M+ (pre-IPO)
Latest roundIPO (June 2021, NASDAQ: MQ)
Valuation$17.3B (IPO close, June 2021)
IndustryInfrastructure / Card issuing
The story

Founded 2010 as a prepaid card processor; pivoted into the modern open-API card issuing platform that powered the on-demand and BNPL eras (Square, DoorDash, Instacart, Affirm, Uber). IPO'd in 2021 at $17B. More recently expanding beyond card issuing into accounts and money movement (Marqeta for Banking), embedded BNPL distribution (Marqeta Flex), and commercial credit — positioning as the embedded finance infrastructure layer for issuers, fintechs, and banks.

Last 12 months
2024
2023
Product timeline
2010
Founded by Jason Gardner in Oakland, CA· pivot
2014
Launched open-API modern card issuing platform· card
2017
Major scale-up powering Square, DoorDash, Instacart, Affirm, Uber card programs· card
2020
$150M raise at $4.3B valuation; launched Australia· banking
2021
IPO on NASDAQ (MQ) at $17.3B market cap· ipo
2022
Partnered with Plaid for ACH account verification and funding· banking
2023
Launched Marqeta Docs AI (OpenAI-powered LLM tool)· pivot
2024
Launched Marqeta Flex (embedded BNPL distribution in wallets)· lending
Acquisitions
TransactPay2025
Acquired UK/EU e-money and card-program-management firm TransactPay for ~$47M to strengthen card program management in Europe.
Power Finance2023
Completed its first-ever acquisition, buying credit-card program-management platform Power Finance (~$223M) to bolster credit issuing.
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Marqeta
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
In the press
embeddedfinancereview.com ↗
Coverage sourced from Embedded Finance Review — a content partner for this report. All articles are © their original authors; click any card to open the source.
◇ article2025-02-26
Marqeta acquires TransactPay - why is this a big step?
Marqeta acquires e-money institution TransactPay to offer complete card issuing in EU and UK without separate BIN sponsors. Why this consolidation changes European embedded payments.
marqeta
Source · Embedded Finance Review ↗
The stack
6 layers disclosed in Marqeta’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Marqeta card issuing & processing (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
12 more providers across 5 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.