Marqeta is making a big move beyond cards

Marqeta is rolling out seven new tools that would help businesses offer more banking services, the company said Monday. It’s a significant expansion beyond its core business of issuing cards.

The products, called Marqeta for Banking, would enable clients to offer new capabilities, including bill pay, direct deposit, and free ATM access, the company said.

Marqeta’s bid to expand beyond its core card-issuing business by offering ways for businesses to process financial transactions could expand its revenue and customer base, but also puts it in competition with a range of banking technology providers.

“I've said this many times in the past — that every company's going to become a financial services company,” Marqeta CEO and founder Jason Gardner told Protocol. “This is just an extension of that: How do we help our existing customers become financial services companies?”

The new suite of products also includes ACH features and bank-account verification through a Plaid integration. Marqeta for Banking would enable clients to offer instant funding to customers.

Coinbase, Branch, and Fold are among the first clients to use the products. Sanchan Saxena, vice president for retail product at Coinbase, said the crypto company used the Marqeta platform to allow customers to earn crypto rewards and make crypto purchases.

Gardner said Marqeta designed and launched the new products based on an understanding of the loyalty that consumers are known to have for banks.

The company focused on building “features and functions” to help businesses “better create loyalty and affinity with their customers,” he said.

“You have a lot of affinity and loyalty to a bank,” he said. “It’s sort of weird, but they have your money. You probably have had the same financial institution for many, many years. There's no reason to change. And companies have figured out that I can create pretty significant loyalty by creating a very well-designed experience for my customers.”