It took Ramp CEO and co-founder Eric Glyman and I just about 10 minutes to arrive at Franz Kafka.
The early 20th century novelist spent most of his life working for an insurance company in Prague, so he knew a thing or two about the infuriating bureaucracy. A century later, this problem persists, and it’s one that Griman is particularly interested in solving.
“We serve businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to Shopify and Airbnb and everything in between,” Greiman said. “If you look closely at the tools they use to make payments and manage money in their business, it’s kind of Kafkaesque. 20 to 30 (tools) is very common. “We use this to pay our bills, we use this for cards, we use this to store money, we use this to store accounts receivable, we use this to record authorizations.” Listening It’s getting crazier and crazier. ”
Founded in 2019, Ramp is committed to alleviating the universal pain of expense reporting and is valued at $7.65 billion by expanding its business to include invoice payments, procurement, and travel management. earned the amount. Now, Glyman is taking things to the next level. Ramp is launching its own app store, Fortune has learned. Launching today, the Ramp App Center enables third-party developers to build specialized apps that integrate directly into Ramp’s platform, and provides Ramp customers with a central hub to browse various add-ons. is provided.
This is an interesting move. Because running a successful app store isn’t really a one-person job. This is also a big move. The App Store in its modern sense, founded by Apple in 2008, has been a legal headache for the iPhone maker in recent years, but this is the domain of companies with gravitational pull. The ecosystem of customers and developers that make up the value of an app store.
Greiman said Ramp, with more than 25,000 customers, and the fintech market in which it operates, is ideally suited for something like this. “Partnering with other companies is unusual in many technology ecosystems,” he says. “But as a fintech provider, you can’t even get started without partnering with a bank or payment platform.”
Ramp App Center will feature over 200 integrations from over 75 partners, including NetSuite, QuickBooks, Puzzle, Digits, Campfire, Ironclad, and Carta. This builds on the functionality already enabled in Ramp through its API while adding even more integration capabilities to the platform. These integrations give Ramp customers access to a variety of business tools with one click. Although certain apps are available only to Ramp Plus customers, Ramp will not split the bill or charge additional fees for a single app. Access to App Center is not restricted by pricing. For developers, access to the app store is an opportunity to partially monetize by leveraging Ramp’s Seal of Approval. The idea, Greiman said, is to streamline tedious but necessary back-office operations for customers, giving them more time to focus on their core business.
For Redpoint Ventures managing director Logan Bartlett, a key sign of App Center’s success will be the emergence of examples of businesses being “turbocharged” by the App Store. “Hopefully we’ll also get some early signs of a business that probably wouldn’t exist without this,” Bartlett said.
“A year from now, success for me will have nothing to do with monetization,” Bartlett added. “It will receive independent validation from net new companies and net new use cases…The benefits for Ramp are clear: acting as a nexus within the ecosystem provides ancillary sustainability. .”
Griman seemed rather fond of Kafka, so I gave him my personal favorite Kafka line (at least the one often attributed to this melancholy novelist). I did. “All revolutions evaporate and only a new slime of bureaucracy remains,” I asked Greiman. How do you prevent it from becoming the problem you’re ultimately trying to solve? I appreciate that he has a sense of humor and is willing to tackle existential questions.
“You’re the voice in my head saying, ‘How can I not be your enemy?'” Greiman laughs. “I think time will tell, but it has to do with the principles and the way the company is organized… We hold ourselves accountable to truly demonstrate that we are simplifying processes with every new product launch and new feature. As long as you’re trying. But this is one of those things that you have to get tested and report on every year.”
Griman and I laugh at the idea of annual Kafka testing, but it might be a good idea for startups of all kinds. If anyone is looking to take the Kafka test, I’m here.
see you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Nina Ajemian supervised the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.
venture deal
– New York City-based mortgage repayment platform Valon has raised $100 million in Series C funding. WestCap led the round, with participation from existing investor Andreessen Horowitz and others.
– Urbint, a Miami-based AI-powered workforce and infrastructure threat detection platform, has raised $35 million in funding from S2G Ventures.
– March Biosciences, a Houston-based tumor cell therapy company, has raised $28.4 million in Series A funding. Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital led the round, with participation from KdT Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Volnay Therapeutics, and existing investors TMC Venture Fund, Cancer Focus Fund, and Small Ventures.
– Fixify, an AI-powered IT help desk solutions provider based in Arlington, Virginia, has raised $25 million in Series A funding. Costanoa Ventures, Decibel Partners, and Paladin Capital Group led the round, with participation from Scale Venture Partners.
– CyberGuru, a Rome-based cybersecurity awareness training platform, has raised $25 million in Series B funding. Riverside Acceleration Capital led the round, with participation from Educapital and existing investors Adara Ventures and P101 Ventures.
– Pantheon AI, a San Francisco-based AI architecture platform, has raised $25 million in funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, joined by Felicis and 8VC.
– Granola, a London-based AI-powered note-taking platform, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Spark Capital led the round, with participation from AI Grant, Lightspeed, Betaworks, Firstmination Capital and others.
– Passkey Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based complex disease drug development company, has raised $20 million in seed funding. Breakout Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, and Bison Ventures led the round, with participation from Wireframe Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and GRIDS Capital.
– Waltham, Massachusetts-based battery technology developer Adden Energy has raised $15 million in Series A funding. At One Ventures led the round, with participation from Primavera Capital Group, Rhapsody Venture Partners, and MassVentures.
– San Francisco-based AI multi-agent platform CrewAI has raised $18 million in funding. Bold Start Ventures led the opening round of $6 million. Insight Partners led the $12 million Series A, with participation from Blitzscaling Ventures.
– Lisbon-based contactless store platform Sensei has raised €15 million ($16.2 million) in Series A funding. BlueCrow Capital led the round, with participation from Lince Capital, Explorer Investments, Kamay Ventures and others.
– Freeform, an AI-driven metal 3D printing company based in Hawthorne, California, has raised $14 million in funding from NVentures and AE Ventures.
– HealthEx, a San Francisco-based patient preference and consent management platform, has raised $14 million in seed and Series A funding. General Catalyst led the round with participation from Electric Capital.
– Party Icons, a Hong Kong-based mobile-first gaming platform, has raised $9 million in funding. BITKRAFT Ventures led the round, with participation from IDG Capital, Gam3Girl Ventures, Leap Capital, angel investors and others.
– Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based car subscription platform invygo has raised $8 million in a Series A extension from STV, existing investors Al Rajhi Partners, Arab Bank Ventures, SPV and others.
– Paris-based fantasy tennis platform Fungiball has raised €2.2 million ($2.4 million) in pre-seed funding from Cliff Capital, BPI France and angel investors.
– Monark, a New York City-based embedded private market investment and trading solutions platform, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Garuda Ventures led the round, with participation from K50 Ventures, Grit Capital Partners, Niche Capital, and angel investors.
– Toronto-based AI companion character developer Dippy AI has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding. Drive Capital led the round, with participation from Carya VC, Cory Levy, Hustle Fund, and Pareto20.
– Toronto-based AI real estate assistant Mave has raised C$2 million ($1.4 million) in pre-seed funding. Relay Ventures and N49P led the round, with participation from Alate Partners, Clarim Ventures, Gambit Partners, angel investors and others.
private equity
– Artivo Surfaces, backed by Transom Capital, has acquired Tom Duffy Company, a Manteca, Calif.-based wholesaler of flooring products. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Coker, backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, has acquired NorthGauge Healthcare Advisors, a provider of medical review and advisory services based in Lakewood, Colorado. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Blue Sage Capital has acquired a majority interest in MHW, a Manhasset, New York-based import, distribution, compliance and logistics fulfillment services provider to the beverage alcohol industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Driven Distribution, backed by HCI Equity Partners, is an automotive parts supplier of Chicago Parts & Sound, an automotive aftermarket parts, battery, consumables and accessories distributor based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. and an accessories sales business. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– The Anderson Group has acquired Double B Foods, a frozen food manufacturing and development company based in Arlington, Texas. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Vesper Company has acquired a minority stake in TAO Digital Solutions, a technology solutions and services provider based in Santa Clara, California. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Worklyn Partners has acquired Harbor Networks, a managed voice, IT and cybersecurity solutions provider based in Framingham, Massachusetts. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Exit
– Apave Group has acquired IRISNDT, an Edmonton, Canada-based field destructive testing and inspection company, from First Reserve. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Branford Castle Partners has acquired Hoffman Engineering, an aerospace and defense situational awareness solutions provider based in Stamford, Conn., from Trident Maritime Systems. Financial terms were not disclosed.
other
– CoStar Group has agreed to acquire Visual Lease, a Woodbridge, New Jersey-based lease accounting and management software company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Occufire Pharma has acquired Opus Genetic, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based gene therapy company for inherited retinal diseases. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Fund + Fund of Funds
– San Francisco-based venture capital firm Chemistry has raised $350 million for its first fund focused on software companies.
people
– Anzu Partners, a Washington, DC-based venture capital and private equity firm, has added Joey Clark as principal and SVP of capital solutions. Previously, he was with JP Morgan.
