Marqeta’s first-quarter 2026 results show that modern card issuing remains a strong growth area inside fintech and embedded finance. The company reported Total Processing Volume of $112 billion, up 33% year over year, as its platform continued to support card programs across expense management, consumer finance, credit building, buy now pay later, and international expansion use cases.
The company also reported net revenue of $166 million and gross profit of $118 million, both up 19% year over year. More importantly, Marqeta moved from a GAAP net loss in the prior-year period to GAAP net income of $8 million in the first quarter of 2026. Adjusted EBITDA reached $33 million, up 66% year over year, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 20%.
For FinanceInsyte readers, the story is not only about one company’s quarterly numbers. It is about how card issuing has changed. Traditional card programs were often slow, bank-led, and difficult to customize. Modern issuing platforms allow companies to launch physical cards, virtual cards, spend controls, credit products, installment options, and embedded payment experiences with more flexibility.
Marqeta’s customer updates show this clearly. Expense management company Ramp is using Marqeta’s platform to expand its corporate card solution into Australia, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico through a single integration. That matters because international card issuing usually involves regulatory, operational, and local market complexity. A single platform that can support multiple geographies makes expansion easier for fast-growing fintech and enterprise customers.
Marqeta also said it enabled Sezzle to launch a virtual card in Canada, allowing Canadian consumers to use Sezzle’s checkout flexibility at retailers that accept contactless payments. This is a useful example of how card issuing infrastructure can extend a fintech product beyond a closed checkout environment and into wider merchant acceptance.
Another important signal is Marqeta’s work around secured credit, installments, and credit-building products. The company said a new customer selected Marqeta to migrate its U.S. secured credit card portfolio and plans to use issuer-managed Mastercard One Credential, allowing consumers to toggle between secured credit and installments on a single card. Marqeta also deepened its relationship with an embedded finance brand by launching a credit builder card alongside an existing debit program.
This shows where embedded finance is heading. Fintech companies are no longer building only debit cards or simple prepaid programs. They are combining debit, credit, secured credit, installments, virtual cards, and financial-assistant experiences into more flexible consumer and business products.
Marqeta’s guidance also suggests the company expects continued growth, though at a more measured pace than TPV growth alone might suggest. For the second quarter of 2026, it guided for 14% to 16% net revenue growth and 14% to 16% gross profit growth. For the full year, it expects 12% to 14% net revenue growth and 10% to 12% gross profit growth.
FinanceInsyte Take
Marqeta’s Q1 performance reinforces a wider fintech trend: modern card issuing is becoming core infrastructure for embedded finance. Growth is not coming only from payment volume, but from more flexible financial products, cross-border expansion, credit-building tools, and programmable card experiences. The key takeaway is that fintech infrastructure companies are becoming more important as banks, startups, and enterprises look for faster ways to launch regulated financial products.
Source link: Business Wire.
