AAA Marqeta gets to market in $1.2bn IPO

Marqeta gets to market in $1.2bn IPO

US-based payment card issuer Marqeta is floating today in a $1.22bn initial public offering representing exits for payment services firms Visa and Mastercard, online lending platform CreditEase and financial services firm CommerzBank.

The company is issuing 45.5 million class A shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market priced at $27 each, above the offering’s $20 to $24 range, to give it a market capitalisation of about $14.3bn.

Marqeta operates a card issuing and payment processing platform that enables businesses to issue their own physical or virtual payment cards.

The company processed $60.1m of transactions during 2020, a year when it generated $290m of revenue, up from $143m in 2019. It reported a $47.7m net loss the same year.

Marqeta’s existing shareholders all own a portion of about 485 million class B shares, with Granite Ventures holding 11.1%. Its notable shareholders include Iconiq Capital, which owns 8.6%, 83North (7.9%), financial services firm Discover Financial Services (5.4%) and Coatue Management (5.2%).

The company had raised at least $526m of funding prior to a strategic investment of undisclosed size by Mastercard in October 2020. It also received a $150m capital injection from an undisclosed investor in May that year at a $4.3bn valuation.

CreditEase, Visa and CommerzBank subsidiary CommerzVentures took part in Marqeta’s $260m series E round in mid-2019. Coatue led that round, which included investment bank Goldman Sachs, Geodesic Capital, Iconiq Capital, 83North, Vitruvian Partners, Spark Capital, Lone Pine Capital and Granite Ventures.

Marqeta had closed a $70m series D round in 2018 that also featured Visa, CreditEase, CommerzVentures, Goldman Sachs, Iconiq Capital, Granite Ventures, Commerce Ventures, 83 North and IA Capital.

The company had previously raised $25m in series C funding from CommerzVentures, existing backers IA Capital, 83North and Granite Ventures, and private investors including Max Levchin, in 2015.

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are lead book-running managers for the IPO while Citigroup, Barclays, William Blair and KeyBanc Capital Markets are book-running managers and Nomura, HSBC, R Seelaus and Siebert Williams Shank are co-managers.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase more than 6.8 million additional shares, potentially lifting the size of the offering to approximately $1.41bn.