Ramp is using a freemium strategy to disrupt the corporate card game

When you think about using your corporate card, the first words that come to mind probably aren’t “spend less.”

Ramp, a startup that offers corporate cards paired with spend management software, has used this positioning to more than double its valuation in less than 5 months.

The company raised $300m in a new round that values the firm at $3.9B, per TechCrunch.

Ramp launched its 1st corporate card in 2019…

… and gave it away for free. The company only makes money on interchange fees, which differs from the OG of the corporate card world, AMEX.

This freemium strategy has helped drive rocketship growth over the past 2 years, including:

• 5x increase in customers since the beginning of 2021
• 10x increase in transaction volume and revenue YoY

Come for the free cards, stay for the software

Ramp pairs its free corporate cards with free software that helps businesses automate expense management, and increase savings with built-in spend limits.

The startup took a step towards offering a holistic spend management platform with its 1st acquisition: Buyer, a negotiation-as-a-service platform that helps businesses save money on software purchases.

The spend management space is getting crowded fast

Since the beginning of 2021:

• Bill.com acquired Divvy for $2.5B
• Brex raised $425m at a $7.4B valuation
• Vendr, a SaaS-buying platform, raised a $60m round

Ramp plans to use its new funding for hiring, marketing, partnerships, and product — all of which should help the startup continue Ramp-ing up its growth.