What happened
Shares of Marqeta (MQ -2.76%) are soaring 25% higher this week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, after the "modern card" issuing platform signed important new deals with the freight division of Uber Technologies (UBER -2.50%) and with fintech stock Bill.com Holdings (BILL -1.18%).
The agreements come after Marqueta made a big splash in the world of cryptocurrency last week, inking deals with crypto businesses like Shakepay, Fold, and Coinbase Global (COIN -9.09%) to create cards through Visa specifically for crypto users to spend their alt coins wherever Visa is accepted.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Uber Freight will be using Marqeta's card-issuing platform, as well as the technology from workforce payments platform Branch, to pay carriers faster and more reliably than what is currently standard in the industry.
Where payment processing is typically 30 days, Uber Freight will now be able to authorize payments within two hours following proof of delivery.
Similarly, Marqeta will be the driving force behind a new commercial card for Bill.com's financial institution customers by having its cloud platform offer application programming interfaces to help companies build out credit- and debit-card programs that are both configurable and can be done at scale.
Now what
Marqeta only came to the public markets in June through an initial public offering (IPO), but it's not new to the fintech space, having been founded over a decade ago. But it's finding its own in the gig economy, which itself has achieved a critical mass.
What Marqeta calls "modern card issuing" is a technology platform that allows for payments to seamlessly flow through an app from a buyer to a merchant, whether it's a third-party delivery person's card for order payment or an installment payment through a buy now, pay later processor.
Increasingly, it's Marqeta's technology that underpins the transaction, and the digital economy is allowing it to flourish.
Wall Street forecasts the growth tech stock will multiply revenue at a compound rate of over 40% annually for each of the next five years, hitting almost $1.6 billion in 2025. It's still generating losses at the moment, but analysts estimate it will break even by the middle of the current decade before turning profitable.
Marqeta's IPO offer price was $27, meaning even after the surge this past week, the stock is only trading less than 15% above where it was introduced.
