Fintech Ramp acquires one other AI-powered startup

Spend administration startup Ramp has acquired AI-powered startup Venue because it expands its procurement providing.

Based in 2022 by TK Kong, Younger Kim, and Kevin Chan, Venue’s purpose was to “simplify how businesses review, approve, and manage the cost of vendors in use across their company.”

The startup raised $1.2 million in funding from traders comparable to Sequoia Capital, Exponent Founders Capital and Basecase Capital. Ramp really acquired the corporate final August however solely introduced it right this moment. Kong was tapped to function Ramp’s head of procurement after the purchase.

The acquisition is smart contemplating that final summer season, Ramp introduced that it was entering the procurement space because it targeted extra on “complex” enterprises. Plus, it believes that back-end enterprise processes like procurement are “ripe for practical automation and AI implementations.”

At present, Ramp claims to energy over $10 billion in accounts payable spend annually, a 10x enhance in simply over two years), execs say. Its self-proclaimed purpose is to turn into “a one-stop-shop for all financial operations.” 

“Eliminating the inefficiencies across the entire financial tech stack is a prime use case for AI to handle the busy work of work,” the corporate mentioned. “The product updates announced today go to show how AI and automation will upend back-end business processes and make it easier and more frictionless to operate and work at a modern business. ”

Final 12 months, Ramp acquired Cohere.io, a startup that built an AI-powered customer support tool. 

And in August of 2021, Ramp additionally bought Buyer, a “negotiation-as-a-service” platform that claimed to avoid wasting its purchasers cash on big-ticket purchases comparable to annual software program contracts.

In August of 2022, Ramp confirmed it had raised $300 million in a funding round co-led by current backer Thrive Capital and new investor Sands Capital at a post-money valuation of $5.8 billion. On the time, it mentioned it had handed $300 million in annualized income.