Marqeta has raised $260 million in a Series E funding round led by Coatue Management, valuing the open API card issuing and processing platform at nearly $2 billion.
Vitruvian Partners, Spark Capital, Lone Pine Capital and Geodesic all participated in the round, joining existing investors Visa, Iconiq, Goldman Sachs, 83North, Granite Ventures, CommerzVentures and CreditEase.
Founded in 2010, Marqeta is gunning for the centre of a card issuing market that is changing fast as new entrants disrupt the dominance of big banks.
"We are in the midst of a transformation in card issuing around the globe," says Jason Gardner, CEO, Marqeta. "When today’s innovators are in need of modern payment solutions, they aren’t turning to banks as their primary issuers anymore and want a platform built for their needs."
The firm's answer is a platform and Just-In-Time Funding feature that allows companies of all sizes to authorise their own card transactions, fundamentally changing how they engage with issuing and processing. Developers on Marqeta’s platform can sign up for a sandbox in under a minute and then leverage a set of card controls and configurations to get a fully funded card programme to market in a matter of days.
Instacart, Square, Affirm, Kabbage and Alipay are among Marqeta's big name users while the company recently signed up its first batch of European customers as it seeks to continue a run of three straight years of doubling its revenue.
Adds Gardner: "Marqeta is attacking a multi-trillion dollar opportunity in this market. This investment puts us in prime position to round out our product vision, bring Marqeta to new geographies, build even more groundbreaking features for our customers and double down on our already aggressive growth trajectory.”