Marqeta Rises in Debut. The Payments Stock’s Valuation Is Near $18 Billion.
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Marqeta's headquarters in Oakland, Calif.
David Paul Morris/BloombergShares of Marqueta gained as much as 21% as trading began after the payments processor raised a larger-than-expected $1.2 billion in an IPO.
Marqeta’s (ticker: MQ) stock kicked off at $32.50 and peaked at $32.75. In early afternoon, shares changed hands at $31.52, up nearly 17% from the offer price.
Late Tuesday, Marqeta sold 45,454,546 shares at $27 each, above the range of $20 to $24 it had told investors to expect. Such price increases typically signal strong demand for a stock.
Marqeta had targeted a $10 billion valuation with its IPO, but with a fully diluted share count of 568 million, Marqeta is now valued at nearly $18 billion. Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are the lead underwriters on the deal.
Founded in 2010, Marqeta provides technology—an application programming interface—that helps companies like Square (SQ), Instacart, and DoorDash (DASH) issue cards, including debit and prepaid, and process payments for their customers. It employs 509 people.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which has accelerated a shift toward digital payments, has helped Marqeta. The company, based in Oakland, Calif., said total processing volume rocketed 177%, to $60.1 billion, in 2020 from $21.7 billion in 2019. It had issued about 320 million cards as of March 31.
Write to luisa.beltran@barrons.com