Marqeta payment card platform

7 minute read

Recently, I was given the opportunity to research the payment card issuing platform Marqeta. Why now? Well, prior to October 2018 their services were not available outside the US. Now they are available in Europe. How exciting is that? Well, very!


This is what Marqeta say about themselves:

The first new card issuing and payment processing platform in 20 years, the Marqeta Platform was built from the ground up to address today's payment needs. Designed for true innovators, the Marqeta Platform lets businesses develop, iterate, and launch the commercial-scale payment solutions they need - at unprecedented speed

The documentation that Marqeta provides is top notch. Tied to the docs is a sandbox environment that you can use to test out many of the endpoints that allow you to access the services they provide.

Cards and Digital wallets

Marqeta provides the ability to issue both physical and virtual cards to users of your service. This opens up lots of opportunities, from digital currencies to businesses managing business expenses. The virtual cards can be issued in a number of ways from tokenised cards for digital wallets (Apple Pay and Google Pay) to what Marqeta call Transmissions which are cards issued via email and fax. Instantly create the virtual cards and have them pushed anywhere you want. 

Cards can be multi or single use and give you the ability to implement spending controls on a per card type basis give you incredible power to manage the use and growth of your business.

Identity Verification

- Know Your Customer (KYC)  -  An identity verification process performed on both user and business resources at creation time. Some programs require account holders to pass identity verification before loading funds or making payments. For example, if your program supports reloadable cards, the Marqeta platform requires account holders to undergo identity verification because of regulatory mandates intended to prevent activities like money laundering. For more information, see KYC Verification.

- Address Verification System (AVS) - An identity verification process performed on authorizations and tokenization requests at transaction time. The Marqeta platform compares the address provided by the cardholder with the address held on file for the associated user or business. The outcome of this verification depends on your program configuration. For more information, see About Address Verification.

JIT (Just in time) funding

JIT funding gives you the ability to provide incredible control over spending, allowing you to authorise payments and funds in real-time. Add your own rules and logic to control the funding. This is such a powerful tool now at the disposal of any Marqeta user.

Spend controls

Velocity controls:
Velocity control is a type of spend control that limits how much users can spend. You can configure velocity controls to limit how much users can spend and/or the number of transactions they can make within a given window of time. Velocity
controls can apply to a single user, all users associated with a particular card product, or all users in your program.

Authorisation controls:

An authorization control is a type of spend control that limits where users can transact. You can configure authorization controls to limit spending at a single merchant or a group of merchants. Authorization controls can apply to a single user, all users associated with a particular card product, or all users in your program.

This platform offers so much potential and I can't wait to get stuck into a real project making use of all its features.

Written by Simon Bos (Founder/Director). Read more in Insights by Simon or check our their socials Twitter, Instagram