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“powering payments innovation” |
Founded: 2010 in California, USA
Category: Payments Primary office: Oakland, California (USA) Core technical team: Oakland, California (USA) Status: Private Employees: 275 Amount raised: $378 (7 rounds – May 2019) |
OVERVIEW
Marqeta, Inc. provides prepaid card solutions for merchants and consumers. The company:
PERFORMANCE METRICS
ACHIEVEMENTS
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Sells
Solutions
- Marqeta enables companies to build, issue and deploy innovative payment, finance and commerce solutions with enormous control over what, where, and how purchases are authorized
- Marqeta provides payment platform intended to offer a fully documented and open API issuer payment processor
- Marqeta’s open API issuer payment processor platform includes a set of controls and configurations designed to meet the needs of on demand service companies, alternative lenders, as well as those looking for payouts for workers, flexible expense management and scalable, secure virtual card transactions
- Marqueta enables developers to get a simplified way of managing payment programs
Channels
- Moving money channels – omni channels including physical, virtual, and tokenized payments
- Healthy clients who are future winners, latched on doing business with large markets
- Targeted outreach through conferences and events
- Podcasts through company website
- A platform with a program dashboard that allow businesses to develop, iterate and launch the payment solutions they need – at unprecedented speed
- Newscast via company website
- Provide technical support, developer support, and other types of assistance via website
- Market via social media sites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
Competencies
- Operates in 2 countries; Oakland, USA and London, UK
- Website Tech Stack: Marqeta is actively using 47 technologies for its website, including Viewport Meta, IPhone / Mobile compatible, and SSL by default
- Company Tech Stack: Marqeta uses 24 technology products and services including Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and G Suite
- World-class talent, top-tier customer service, the tremendous value and trust that is built in the payment space
- The ability to transform the card issuance service and global payments infrastructure
Resources
Assets
- Founder-led management team
- A strong tech hub that formed in parallel with company’s growth over the decade
- Company built high-impact meaningful open API card issuing and processing technology
- A global market for card issuing volumes over $45 trillion, traditionally dominated by banks – not a sector that is known for innovation nor moving quickly, and the likelihood of creating a generational business
Processes
- Processes that integrate with Visa, Mastercard, and Discover and create more efficient business processes
- Process to raise funds – raised $378 million in 7 rounds, funded by 21 investors
- Process that enable developers to build with Marqeta (developer guides, API reference documentation, sandbox environment, and developer support)
Priorities
- Expansion to other countries (for example, to Europe with the partnership with Visa; operating from London
- Expansion to other industry sectors (online travel, online retail, media buying, POS financing, consumer lending, small business lending, disbursements, on-demand delivery, expense management, digital banking)
Assertions That Best Describe What the Company Did to Scale Early, Rapidly & Securely
- Increase value by using a compelling image of the desired future company to convince others to provide the funding and resources the company requires
- Increase profitability by learning to make well-reasoned decisions or conclusions about how to scale from own experience and others
- Define and implement the plan to scale with the effort, skills, and resilience to increase profitability
- Develop and sell products that address a problem, job to be done or a need that is shared by a large and growing number of individuals and organizations in various regions to increase sales
- Increase market share by applying digital technology to brand, market, sell, and service customers more cost-effectively than competitors
- Increase sales by adapting products and services to each market
- Enter a new market by partnering with or purchasing local firms to increase sales
- Increase sales by enabling locals to succeed because of new company
- Increase demand by using scientific and technological advances to develop innovative products and services
- Increase demand by enabling users to participate in product and service development
- Increase profitability by applying processes that make products and services easier to understand, produce and deliver
- Increase the company’s value by continuously seeking and receiving funding to support the company’s plan to scale and improve its image in the marketplace
References
- Techcrunch. 2019. Payment card startup Marqeta confirms $260M round at close to $2B valuation. https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/21/payment-card-startup-marqeta-confirms-260m-round-at-close-to-2b-valuation/
- PitchBook. 2019. Marqeta company profile. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/54330-13
- Kauflin, Jeff. 2019. It Took Three Tries, But This Entrepreneur Transformed His Struggling Startup Into A $2 Billion Unicorn. Forbes daily cover, April 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2019/03/26/it-took-three-tries-but-this-entrepreneur-transformed-his-struggling-startup-into-a-2b-unicorn/#6ae3c485706d
- Global Business Outlook, 2019. Marqueta, a Goldman-backed fintech startup launches in Europe. https://www.globalbusinessoutlook.com/marqueta-a-goldman-backed-fintech-startup-launches-in-europe/
- Crowdfund Insider. 2019. Fintech Unicorn: Marqeta Raises $260 Million at a $2 Billion Valuation. https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2019/05/147515-fintech-unicorn-marqeta-raises-260-million-at-a-2-billion-valuation/
- BusinessWire. 2019. Oakland Fintech Unicorn Marqeta Creates 175 New Jobs in 2019, as Its Modern Card Issuing Vision Takes Global Flight. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190828005177/en/Oakland-Fintech-Unicorn-Marqeta-Creates-175-New
- Wilhelm Alex. 2019. Meet $3B In Valuation From Two Companies You Haven’t Heard Of. Crunchbase news, May 2019. https://news.crunchbase.com/news/meet-3b-in-valuation-from-two-companies-you-havent-heard-of/
- Primeunicorn Index. 2019. Marqeta, Inc. https://www.vcexperts.com/prime_unicorn_companies/aee346d2-c0d6-48b1-b71a-38abbbf005e8.pdf
Contributors
- Renuka Gamage