Marqeta reaches $17bn valuation as shares pop on its Nasdaq debut

Card issuing and payments giant Marqeta saw its share price pop during its first day of trading yesterday, sending the fintech’s valuation from $15bn to as high as $17bn.

The newly-listed firm floated its shares on the Nasdaq at $27, but opened as high as $32.50 although they settled to $30.52 by the close of trading.

In its last private funding round in May 2020 Marqeta raised $150m at a $4.3bn valuation, with backers including Coatue, Vitruvian Partners, Visa, Goldman Sachs and 83North.

The last year has been transformative according to the company, with its annual revenue more than doubling to $290.3m in 2020 as the race to digital finance was super-charged by Covid-19.

Yesterday’s IPO raised $1.2bn for the firm, cash which the firm says will be used predominantly as working capital and to grow the business globally, and potentially for acquisitions.

“We’re building a single global platform to define and power the future of money for the world’s leading innovators. This new capital helps us accelerate our mission to empower builders to bring the most innovative products to market, wherever they are in the world,” Jason Gardner, Marqeta’s founder and CEO, said during the fintech’s 2020 funding round.

Marqeta, founded in 2010, handles card issuing for the likes of Square, Uber, Affirm, Instacart, and DoorDash with operations in Canada, Europe, Australia and the US.

In Europe, Marqeta has supported fintechs including CapitalOnTap’s credit card rollout in Spainand Tymit’s credit card launch in the UK.

Marqeta is just the latest fintech to reach the public market, with Uruguay’s payments fintech dLocal listing just last week and SoFi,Klarna,Wise and several others planning public market debuts in the coming months.