Giftbit was named as a new Marqeta embedded-finance customer on August 24, 2023, in a partnership focused on prepaid rewards and more flexible disbursements. Giftbit followed with its own explanation on August 31. The announcements linked its gifting and incentive experience with Marqeta’s card-issuing technology. [S01] [S02]

Connecting the reward experience and payment infrastructure

Giftbit described prepaid cards as one way to give reward recipients choice. Marqeta supplied the issuing and processing platform behind that experience, while Giftbit positioned the service for organisations sending customer or employee rewards and other incentives. [S01] [S02]

The distinction matters because the message that delivers a reward and the machinery that makes the reward spendable are different parts of the service. A recipient may interact with a familiar rewards brand, but the programme still needs a working route from a funded balance to an accepted transaction.

What each company brought

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What each company brought

Participant

Role described in the announcements

Giftbit

Reward platform and recipient experience

Marqeta

Card-issuing and payment infrastructure

Business objective

Flexible prepaid disbursements within the reward relationship

Giftbit CEO Leif Baradoy identified recipient choice and flexibility as reasons for using modern prepaid cards. The announcements did not give the contract value, card volume or a measured improvement in redemption, delivery speed or customer retention. [S01]

Marqeta reported that embedded-finance customers represented more than half its bookings in the first half of 2023. That figure describes a broader business category; it is not Giftbit’s share of bookings or this partnership’s transaction volume. [S01]

Evaluating the whole recipient journey

For an incentive buyer, infrastructure is useful when it removes a real obstacle. The practical questions are how a recipient receives the card, understands where it can be used, checks the balance and gets help after a declined transaction. Procurement therefore needs to assess the reward experience alongside the underlying programme terms.

The announcement confirms the commercial relationship and its intended role. It does not mean that every payment feature described by either company was newly launched for every Giftbit recipient on that date. Availability and individual programme rules still need to be read at the level of the specific offering.

This was the original 2023 announcement. Later accounts of how the programme operated are separate developments and should not be used to redate the start of the relationship.