Cloud Stocks: Marqeta Struggles, Tries To Recover Through An API Strategy

Photo Credit: TheDigitalWay from Pixabay

According to recent reports, the global credit card payments market is projected to grow at a 9% CAGR from $138.43 billion in 2020 to reach $263.47 billion by 2028. The growth in the industry is attributed to the increasing demand for cash alternatives and the availability of affordable credit cards across the globe. Marqeta (Nasdaq: MQ) is a leading card-issuing platform that is seeing significant adoption of its services across the country.
 

Marqeta’s Financials

For the recently ended first quarter, revenues grew 54% to $166.1 million and the loss was $0.11 per share. The market had forecast revenues of $161 million and a loss of $0.09 per share.

The company did not provide any outlook for the coming quarter or year.
 

Marqeta’s Growth Focus

Recently, Marqeta announced its partnership with Klarna. The partnership will power the new Klarna Card and will introduce the popular “Pay in 4” service to a physical Visa card, encouraging customers to pay over time in four equal installments without interest for any in-store or online purchase. Marqeta’s API-first card issuing and processing platform is created for differentiation and speed, allowing customers like Klarna to instantly onboard accounts, issue physical and virtual cards, and push to digital wallets, allowing users to start spending automatically upon credit approval. The Klarna Card provides US customers with a transparent, bi-weekly repayment schedule, making it easy for consumers to keep track of their payments.
 

Marqeta’s API Strategy

Marqeta continues to build on its API strategy and recently announced significant expansions of its credit platform. The upgrades include a new, intuitive dashboard and more than 40 new credit APIs that enable customers to design, test, and launch differentiated credit card experiences. Marqeta’s credit platform provides customers with more flexibility and control than legacy credit solutions, and customers have the option to leverage First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) program management and banking capabilities alongside these new features.

Launching credit card programs and managing changes to the rewards programs for these credit cards has traditionally been a time-consuming and inflexible process that requires significant manual configuration. With these new features, the customers have a more intuitive experience and can leverage APIs to design newer card programs with personalized rewards, digital-first experiences, and fast onboarding. These new credit capabilities will allow FinTech firms, brands, and banks to leverage the ‘no code’ workflow to configure key parameters of their card such as APRs, rewards, and fees with built-in approval and compliance checks. Customers will also be able to provide their users an instant credit decision via Marqeta’s API connection to FNBO’s decisioning engine.

Its stock is currently trading at $8.23 with a market capitalization of $4.7 billion. It reached a year high of $37.90 in October last year and a 52-week low of $6.05 in May. Marqeta went public in June last year at $27 apiece at a valuation of $15 billion. The stock has fallen significantly since its listing. The continuing competition from other payment companies like PayPal, Stripe, Wex, Fiserv coupled with turbulent market conditions have clearly not helped the company.


More By This Author:

Cloud Stocks: ForgeRock Leverages AI for Growth
Cloud Stocks: Samsara Expands Farm-Focused Vertical Offerings
Informatica Focuses On Vertical Specific Offerings For Growth

Disclosure: All investors should make their own assessments based on their own research, informed interpretations, and risk appetite. This article expresses my own opinions based on my own research ...

more
How did you like this article? Let us know so we can better customize your reading experience.

Comments