Ramp, a corporate credit card startup founded by the team behind Paribus, a consumer finance firm acquired by Capital One in 2016, has raised $25 million in funding and signed up nearly 100 businesses for its launch.
Ramp investors include veteran fintech investor Keith Rabois of Founders Fund, along with Coatue, BoxGroup, Conversion Capital, Soma Capital, Backend Capital, and over 50 startup founders.
Ramp is taking aim at a market dominated by the likes of American Express and new fintech firms such as Brex.
But rather than encouraging customers to spend more, Ramp's USP includes the deployment of card usage analytics designed to help companies identify wasteful spending.
The card's benefits were designed with high growth companies in mind, requiring no personal guarantees, 1.5% unlimited cashback, and high limits balanced with complete spend control.
"Ramp did an audit for us at no cost and found over $250,000 in savings right out of the gate," says Nick Greenfield, CEO of healthcare technology company Candid. "That, plus Ramp's 1.5% cashback on top, is far more valuable than any rewards programme, and has been a gamechanger for our 400 person company."
Ramp's team comes from across the financial technology industry, including Affirm's former VP of engineering, the first business hires from Plaid and Atrium, and engineers from Facebook AI Research, Google Research, Capital One, Goldman Sachs, Apple, and Lyft.
"Most companies in Silicon Valley are quite wasteful with their spending, however, without access to the corporate card, it is difficult to enact change," said Rabois. "This team has the perfect DNA to create the card that smart CFOs use, as opposed to creating a card that relies on gimmicks like rewards to attract customers."