REUTERS: Shares of Marqeta Inc, which counts Uber Technologies Inc and hedge fund Coatue among its investors, rose more than 20per cent in their Nasdaq debut, giving the payments startup a market capitalization of over US$17.2 billion.
Marqeta stock opened at US$32.50 on Wednesday, compared with its initial public offering price (IPO) of US$27 per share. Its IPO was priced well above its target price range of US$20 to US$24 per share.
The Oakland, California-based company sold 45.45 million shares in its IPO, raising about US$1.2 billion.
Payments companies that facilitate virtual transactions have benefited immensely during the COVID-19 pandemic that has lifted online shopping and spending on food-deliveries. A number of payments startups, such as Flywire and Paymentus, have gone public in recent weeks.
Another payments provider, Uruguay’s DLocal Ltd, saw it shares jump nearly 48per cent in its U.S. market debut last week.
Majority of Marqeta’s revenue comes from interchange fees generated from transactions through its platform. A fraction of such interchange fees, generated per card swipe, goes to the company.
The company had issued more than 320 million cards through its platform as of March 31, 2021 and processed roughly US$60 billion in volumes last year.
Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan were the lead underwriters for the offering.
(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
