Ramp Secures $500 Million to Boost AI-Powered Corporate Finance Tools
Ramp, a startup focused on automating corporate finance tasks through artificial intelligence, announced a $500 million funding round on Wednesday. This Series E-2 round, led by Iconiq Capital and supported by existing investors such as Founders Fund and D1 Capital Partners, values the company at $22.5 billion.
The new capital will be allocated to expanding Ramp’s engineering, product development, marketing, and sales teams. The goal is to enhance and promote Ramp’s AI agents, which automate finance operations. Ramp is primarily recognized for its corporate credit card and expense management system.
AI Agents Target Corporate Finance Efficiency
Ramp’s AI agents assist corporate finance teams by automating routine tasks like employee expense report compliance. The startup’s AI bots are designed to "think like people," according to co-founder and CEO Eric Glyman. Future AI tools will support procurement and bookkeeping, streamlining daily workflows and reducing manual work.
Since launching its first AI agent in early July, Ramp has attracted thousands of customers eager to test the technology. Richard Gobea, finance manager at Quora, shared that Ramp’s AI agent automates tasks usually handled by entry-level accountants, freeing his team to focus on flagged expenses that require deeper review.
Company Growth and Technology
- Founded in 2019, Ramp now serves over 40,000 businesses, including several Fortune 100 companies.
- The company employs around 1,200 people and had more than 15,000 customers in 2023.
- Ramp began generating cash flow earlier this year and reported $700 million in annualized revenue as of March.
Ramp’s platform leverages AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and others, enabling it to interpret corporate policies and suggest automatic adjustments based on employee behavior. The technology predicts and completes expense entries using transaction data, historical trends, and context from tools like Gmail and Google Calendar.
If additional information is needed for an expense, employees receive SMS verification messages. The platform then verifies corporate policy compliance, routes the expense for review if necessary, and codes it automatically.
Upcoming Features and Market Challenges
Ramp plans to introduce a budgeting AI agent that alerts financial planning teams to approve expenses before they escalate to CFOs. This proactive feature aims to streamline financial oversight and reduce bottlenecks.
Despite the promise, some finance teams remain cautious about adopting AI agents. Ramp faces competition from startups like Brex and established players such as SAP and American Express, all integrating AI into their finance solutions.
Convincing CFOs and CIOs to invest in Ramp’s AI agents is a key challenge, especially with numerous automation and AI options available. The fintech sector is still recovering from a decline in private investments during high interest rate periods, which dropped 46% globally in late 2023.
Ramp raised $300 million in 2023 at a $5.8 billion valuation, down from $8.1 billion in early 2022. More recently, it secured $200 million in a Series E round at a $16 billion valuation. This latest funding brings the company’s total capital raised to $1.9 billion.
For finance professionals interested in practical AI applications and automation tools, exploring relevant AI tools for finance can provide valuable insights into optimizing workflows and improving efficiency.
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