Marqeta

What it is

Marqeta is Marqeta, Inc.’s modern card issuing platform for companies that want to issue branded payment cards and process card transactions. The homepage calls it the card issuing platform built for debit, credit, prepaid, and flexible credentials. Footer and product copy state that Marqeta is not a bank or a lender. Marqeta provides a technology platform. Cards and related services are offered through its bank partners. Support varies by jurisdiction.

Two engagement models sit on the same Core API. Powered By Marqeta (PxM) assists with configuration, then lets you run the platform independently. You obtain licenses yourself or work directly with an issuing bank for BIN sponsorship, and you hold regulatory and compliance responsibility. Managed By Marqeta (MxM) makes Marqeta the Program Manager. Marqeta provides partnerships with issuing banks, card networks, and fulfillment providers, and takes program-management duties including KYC, AML, and dispute management.

This page is card issuing for software platforms: physical and virtual debit, credit, and prepaid cards, Just-in-Time (JIT) Funding, spend controls, and the program-management path. Accounts and money movement (spending accounts, savings accounts, ACH, SEPA, and related rails) are Marqeta’s. They are not this page. Tokenization as a Service for cards not issued on Marqeta is Marqeta’s. It is not this page.

Who it’s for

Two shapes, from Marqeta’s own pages:

• Software platforms on Managed By Marqeta, where the company wants a branded card program and wants Marqeta to act as Program Manager, introduce BIN-sponsor bank partners, and handle network approval, KYC, fulfillment, and disputes. The program-management guide sells this as the faster, lower-complexity path versus contracting a bank yourself.
• Software platforms on Powered By Marqeta, where the company already has (or will obtain) an issuing bank, network relationships, and licenses, and wants Marqeta’s issuing and processing API without handing program management to Marqeta.

Use-case pages cover embedded finance, buy now pay later, expense management, on-demand and gig disbursements, incentives and rewards, online travel supplier payments, marketplaces, consumer and commercial credit, and digital-banking debit. The contact page addresses fintechs, financial institutions, and tech companies.

It is a fit for a software company that wants partner-bank debit, credit, or prepaid cards inside the product, can complete sales and due diligence, and does not hold a bank charter.

Standout details

• Physical and virtual cards are first-class. The card issuing page covers branded virtual or physical cards, inventory and fulfillment, and tokenization into digital wallets. Docs distinguish plastic cards that need activation from virtual cards that can be issued for immediate, often one-time, use. Tokenization docs name network tokens from Visa or Mastercard and provisioning into Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Samsung Pay. Prepaid copy covers single-use and multi-use cards. Credit pages cover consumer and commercial credit programs, with the credit platform acting as system of record for origination, servicing, statements, and rewards.
• Just-in-Time Funding is the real-time funding model. Cards can sit at a $0 balance until authorization. Managed JIT lets Marqeta apply spend controls and fund the account. Gateway JIT forwards the decision to your endpoint, which must respond within three seconds. Commando Mode is the documented fallback if your gateway does not respond. Standard funding still exists: preload a general purpose account (GPA) before spend. Authorization controls limit merchants and MCCs. Velocity controls limit amount and frequency.
• KYC sits under RiskControl, alongside 3D Secure, Real-Time Decisioning, and disputes. Docs say US KYC is generally required for reloadable cards, cash access, international spend, balances over $1,000, or funding from outside the program source (for example ACH). Individual KYC needs name, physical address, date of birth, and SSN or ITIN. Business KYC (KYB) covers the entity, controlling person, and US beneficial owners at 25% or more. On Managed By Marqeta, Marqeta manages KYC. On Powered By Marqeta, you do. Payment-services terms describe optional KYC Services through a contracted KYC Service Provider, limited to US identity and age verification, and not for FCRA uses.
• Production is not self-serve. Homepage and contact-us CTAs are Talk to sales and Contact our sales team. Docs walk a sales process: use-case screen, Business Development pricing and feasibility, solutions engineering, a Statement of Work that includes pricing and timeline, then a Master Service Agreement. Due diligence collects incorporation documents, financials, security and continuity policies, insurance, and bank and network approval. A public sandbox is available after signup at auth.marqeta.com/create-account (www.marqeta.com/users/sign_up redirects there). A private sandbox and production keys follow sales. The program-management guide says using a card program manager is typically around 4 to 6 months, with various dependencies. Homepage marketing says leverage existing bank, network, and fulfillment relationships to go live in days not months. Those are Marqeta’s claims. They are not a published SLA for your launch.
• Marqeta does not publish a public pricing page (www.marqeta.com/pricing returns 404). Pricing is described in the SOW. The program-management guide’s comparison table mentions ongoing revenue-sharing or per-card fees as typical of using a card program manager. That is not a Marqeta rate card. This listing does not repeat one.
• License posture: Marqeta is not a bank, a lender, or (on the accounts page) a money transmitter. The Issuer in payment-services terms is the regulated financial institution that issues Cards. On Managed By Marqeta, docs say Marqeta provides bank partners to act as BIN sponsors and coordinates issuing-bank and network approval. A live program needs a reserve funding source and a program funding account at the issuing bank. US product pages do not name a single default issuing bank for all programs. In the UK and EEA, Marqeta’s August 2025 newsroom post says it completed the acquisition of TransactPay, an e-money institution and BIN sponsor. TransactPay terms on marqeta.com state TransactPay is a licensed EMI, a Network member offering BIN sponsorship, and a subsidiary of Marqeta Inc.
• Geography: homepage says expand across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and states 40+ countries certified to operate. Product copy repeats that support varies by jurisdiction and to contact Marqeta for what is available. PCI-compliant widgets (UX Toolkit) host PAN, PIN, expiry, and CVV2 in iframes so your servers need not handle that data. The program-management guide states PCI DSS Level 1 and SSAE-18. Homepage states 400 billion volume processed in 2025 and 99.99% platform uptime in 2025. Payment-services terms set a Monthly Transaction Success Rate performance standard of 99.99%. Those figures are Marqeta’s.
• Homepage names Square, Affirm (Max Levchin), and Western Union (Tom Mazzaferro) with quotes. The PCI widgets page names Ramp (Eric Glyman). The card issuing page links a Klarna card-migration case study. Adjacent Marqeta products include accounts and money movement (spending and savings accounts, virtual accounts in the UK/EU, ACH, direct deposit, SEPA, FPS, push-to-card) and Tokenization as a Service for cards issued outside Marqeta. Those are Marqeta’s. They are not this page.

Sources: marqeta.com, Platform overview, Card issuing, JIT Funding, Prepaid, Debit, Credit, PCI-compliant widgets, Tokenization and digital wallets, Accounts and money movement, Program management guide, About, Newsroom, TransactPay acquisition, Contact sales, Terms, TransactPay terms, Sandbox signup, Docs, Platform overview (docs), Card program differences, Managed By Marqeta, Powered By Marqeta, About JIT Funding, About KYC, Core API Quick Start.

Honest verdict

Marqeta is the listing to read when the job is embedded card issuing for a software platform: branded physical and virtual debit, credit, or prepaid cards, real-time JIT funding and spend controls, and a partner-bank program you can run yourself or hand to Marqeta as Program Manager. Marqeta is not a bank. The charter sits with the issuing bank (the BIN sponsor). On Managed By Marqeta, Marqeta supplies those bank partners. In the UK and EEA, TransactPay is Marqeta’s licensed EMI and BIN sponsor.

What it is not: a self-serve live start, a published buy rate, or a bank account product. Public sandbox is for evaluation. Live keys follow sales, due diligence, and issuing-bank and network approval. If the job is cards at a partner bank inside the product, and you are prepared to talk to sales, start here.