Ramp, a fintech startup that offers corporate cards and software for managing employee expenses, has said it was valued at $3.9 billion after a funding round led by billionaire Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.
The latest $300m investment more than doubled the two-year-old company's valuation from $1.6 billion in April and brought its total capital raised through a mix of debt and equity financing to $620m.
Stripe, the financial technology firm founded by Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison was also an investor in the round, alongside Redpoint Ventures, Thrive Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Spark Capital and several others.
Change in how consumers use financial services and a pandemic-driven rise in digital channels have drawn investor interest in fintechs in recent months, prompting global investors such as Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global and SoftBank Group to ramp up bets on the sector.
Ramp offers virtual and physical cards and gives a 1.5% cashback on every purchase a customer makes, serving several high-profile companies such as audio app Clubhouse, telehealth company Ro and online legal services provider DoNotPay.
It makes money by taking a share of the interchange fee that is paid by the merchant every time a user spends through its card. The startup competes with American Express and other startups such as Brex and older expense management software makers including Expensify and SAP Concur.
Ramp today also announced the purchase of Buyer, a "negotiation-as-a-service" platform that helps businesses cutdown costs, marking its first acquisition. The deal's financial terms were not disclosed.
