Overview
Ramp provides its users with the world’s first finance automation platform to help save both time and money. It is a 5-in-1 platform that offers expense management, accounting, reporting, bill payments, and corporate cards in one place, and is also mostly free. As we write, over 2000 businesses are using this platform for more than $1 billion in yearly transaction volume.
Ramp form one of the fastest-growing startups globally, which has achieved a unicorn valuation of $3.9 billion within the span of 2 years. The organization is also included in the Forbes Fintech 50, Best Workplaces for Innovators program of Fast Company, and LinkedIn Top Startups of 2021.
Company Profile
Here is a brief overview of Ramp’s company profile.
| Company Name | Ramp Business Corporation |
| Website | ramp.com |
| Founded | March 2019 |
| Founder | Eric Glyman, Gene Lee, Karim Atiyeh |
| Key People | Stuart R Patterson – President/COO, Robert P Orlando “Bob” – Chief Financial Officer, Dr Raymond Lau “Ray” – Chief Technology Officer |
| Headquarters | New York, United States |
| Company Type | Private Company (For-Profit) |
| Revenue | $21M per year |
| Key Competitors | Divvy, Airbase, Brex, Expensify, Spendesk, SAP Concur, Pleo, Emburse Abacus |
What is Ramp? A Brief History
Ramp is a technology company aiming at finance automation for saving time as well as money. It develops corporate cards to help businesses accelerate their growth without compromising on their finances.
Ramp offers direct accounting integrations, advanced saving insights, and automatic receipt matching. These features can help the Finance teams save more than five days each month.
Ramp was started on the very idea of reducing costs and spending less so that the saved money can be utilized in hiring more employees and thus paying better, which would eventually lead to the growth of the business.
The current methods prevailing in the B2B payments industry waste time and promote complex “points programs” that propel the employees to spend more instead of spending less. Ramp is here to change this notion.
The startup was designed after spending thousands of hours while being in direct contact with finance teams. Ramp has entered the market with cutting-edge technology and incredible user experience. The company incorporates immense experience from the top financial service organizations, including Capital One, Goldman Sachs, Better, Affirm, and American customers.
How Does Ramp Work and What Does it offer?
Ramp is trusted by numerous happy customers across all mid-sized companies. Ramp corporate credit cards give 1.5% cash backs on everything without any exception. Ramp works differently than the usual corporate card offerings. It has its own cashback program and analyzes your payments, so you are always on the safe side. Making you spend less while giving you cash backs on everything, Ramp can be the right corporate partner for you.
You must be wondering whether the startup charges any fee. Well, there is no fee required. You can have its white Visa card for literally $0 per month. You also don’t have to worry about any hidden charges for foreign transactions or interest fees.
Ramp works by analyzing the way you spend money. If you are paying multiple subscriptions for the same service, you will get notified. Moreover, you will also receive lower-tier expense management subscription advice from Ramp if you are paying a higher amount for some in-efficient and error-prone service.
Upon subscribing to Ramp, you will get free credits for various third-party services, including
- Amplitude
- Amazon Web Services
- Datadog
- Sendgrid
- DocSend
- Twilio
- Notion
- Plaid
All in all, the service represents $175,000 in free credits.
No matter how many employees you have, Ramp would not charge you an annual fee. The platform issues unlimited physical and virtual corporate cards carrying pre-approved spending limits to incorporate your company policies automatically.
To redeem awards on Ramp, you need to log into your account and request a statement credit. Suppose you spend $100,000 monthly on the Ramp card. You will get $1,500 cashback.
Ramp also allows users to integrate the card with popular accounting software. Furthermore, Ramp comes with a feature of automatic receipt matching where you can upload the picture of your receipt, and it will automatically match with the correct transaction.
Ramp Business Model
Just like most other corporate card company plans, Ramp’s business model is to make money with interchange fees. Card issuers get a tiny cut from all transactions made through it, and so do Ramp.
Did you know that Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh, the founders of Ramp, had previously co-founded Paribus? It is a startup that aims to help people save money on online purchases. Later, CapitalOne bought Paribus.
Ramp Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
If you are looking for the most advanced corporate card on the market, then Ramp is the corporate card compatible with your business’s financial health. While other startups out there tend to increase spending, Ramp focuses on assisting companies to stop wasting money on racking up points.
Ramp aims at maximizing the input both in terms of money and time. The team at Ramp has built up firms that save consumers more than $100M per annum. The customer gets 1.5% cashback on everything without any exceptions and can receive more than $175k in partner rewards.
Ramp provides automated saving insights while actively identifying the opportunities to help you save money. The best part is that the service is 100% free.
You don’t have to bear expense reports with Ramp since it offers an integrated expense policy. You have to define your amount thresholds for receipts and other justifications, and the company will automatically follow up. The feature of automatic receipt matching allows users to simply text or email their receipts, and Ramp will match them for the users’ transactions.
Ramp comes with advanced accounting rules that learn as you define how you wish to project your transactions to your accounting configurations.
How Does Ramp Make Money?
According to Ramp’s official website, every time you use your money on your Ramp card, the merchant is obliged to pay a fee known as interchange. The fee money is divided between the visa and the merchant’s connected bank. Visa is the Ramp’s card network. This is how Ramp gets its share.
However, the customer doesn’t have to pay an extra amount because the company is invested in saving the customers’ money and keeping their amount in their bank without having to pay a cent for it.
SWOT Analysis of Ramp
Ramp analyzes how you spend money. Here is the SWOT analysis of Ramp to walk you through the crucial aspects of the company.
Strengths
- One of the strengths of Ramp is that the user gets control and visibility
- As a business owner, you can use Ramp to set distinct limits for each employee, develop as many cards as you wish to, and create spending rules
- The user is also allowed to centralize receipts and attach them to each spending
- Ramp is ideal for high-growth startups
- The platform does not require personal guarantees
- Ramp offers 10 to 20 times higher spending limits than the usual corporate cards
- Unlike traditional corporate car companies, such as Brex, Ramp does not incorporate a complex reward system based on points
- Most corporate cards earn you points when you book flights or order a Lyft through their card, but Ramp gets you 1.5% cashback on all of your purchases
- Some top-notch startups form Ramp’s existing customers, including Candid, Eight Sleep, Ro, Truebill and Better
- Ramp prioritizes a better user experience over quick revenue generation
- Slack integration is another strength of Ramp where the users receive real-time finance alerts and become capable of handling requests directly through Slack
- Ramp card is a charge card, so you don’t have to pay interest on it
Weaknesses
- Ramp is not the right answer if you are looking for travel perks
- Ramp does not carry any lifestyle perks
- Sole proprietors do not fall under the eligibility criteria for Ramp card
- Ramp card is a charge card, so you cannot carry a balance in it
- If you are a smaller business that can’t make use of the Ramp’s service, look for another card that fits your need better
- Ramp does not allow administrative assistants to fill out receipts on the users’ behalf without having complete access to the account
Opportunities
- American Express users save 3.3% annually on their spending through Ramp, which is not the case with other corporate cards, so there is an expected flux of customers from American Express
- The FinTech industry’s overall market value is projected to reach $310 billion in 2022
Threats
- Reviewers say that Ramp’s competitors, Airbase and Pleo, are better at meeting requirements as compared to Ramp
- Ramp cards come with a pre-determined spend limit but other cards, such as Bento, allows the users to set their monthly spending limits for each card
- The Business Platinum Card from American Express sets the bar high when it comes to travel perks and a high return on airline spending
