Card issuing platform Marqeta is partnering with buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Klarna to launch a physical Visa card that consumers can use to pay for purchases interest-free over four installments, either in-store or online.
The Klarna Card is available in the U.S., which is Klarna’s fastest-growing market by volume, according to a Wednesday (June 1) press release. Klarna partnered with Marqeta in 2018 in the U.S. to power virtual cards across multiple product offerings.
David Sykes, chief commercial officer at Klarna, said in the release that the BNPL firm’s U.S. customer base has been expanding fast, with “tremendous demand” for the Klarna Card.
“By working with Marqeta, we were able to quickly launch a brand new card program with seamless flexibility and controls,” Sykes said.
The release added that with the Klarna Card, U.S. consumers will get full transparency, including bi-weekly repayment schedules, to make it easier for users to track payments.
Marqeta posted a 53% increase in quarterly processing growth this year, driven in part by an uptick in BNPL usage, PYMNTS reported in May.
See also: Today in Data: BNPL Shows Its Resilience
Marqeta launched in 2010 and is based in Oakland, California. The card issuing platform provides infrastructure and tools to help companies build and manage payment processes.
“Marqeta’s continued partnership with Klarna is a testament to all the payment experiences that our modern card issuing platform can enable,” Jason Gardner, founder and CEO of Marqeta, said in the release.
Gardner added that Marqeta’s “flexible, scalable card platform” is positioned to meet the needs of “such a rapidly-growing and innovative company like Klarna.”
Read more: Marqeta TPV Grows 53% as BNPL Volumes Double, Travel Spending Snaps Back
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna specializes in eCommerce payment solutions and has over 60 million users and 90,000 merchant partnerships.
Marqeta and Klarna recently expanded their partnership into 13 new European markets. Klarna also uses Marqeta’s Just-in-Time Funding feature, which offers control over the full transaction flow. Klarna also has use of Marqeta’s suite of more than 300 open application programming interfaces (APIs).
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