It took Ramp CEO and cofounder Eric Glyman and me only about ten minutes to get to Franz Kafka.
The early 20th century novelist, who worked most of his life at an insurance company in Prague, knew a thing or two about exasperating bureaucracies. A century later, it’s a problem that persists—and is one that Glyman is especially interested in solving.
“The companies we serve are all sizes, from small to Shopify and Airbnb, and everything in-between,” said Glyman. “If you really look at all the tools they use to make payments and manage the money part of their businesses, it’s kind of Kafka-esque. 20 to 30 [tools] is pretty typical. ‘We use this for bill payments, we use this for cards. We use this to store money, we use this for receivables, and then we use this to log approvals.’ You listen to it, and it keeps getting crazier.”
Ramp, founded in 2019, has earned its $7.65 billion valuation by working to make the universal agony of expense reporting less painful, and by expanding to include bill payments, procurement, and travel management. Now, Glyman is taking things to the next level: Ramp is launching its very own app store, Fortune has learned. The Ramp App Center, which goes live today, will let third-party developers build specialized apps that integrate directly into Ramp’s platform, while providing Ramp customers with a central hub to browse various add-ons.
It’s an interesting move, not least because running a successful app store isn’t really something you can do alone. It’s also a big move: App stores, in the modern sense established by Apple in 2008—and more recently a source of legal headaches for the iPhone maker—are the province of companies with gravitational pull; an ecosystem of customers and developers that comprise the app store’s value.
Glyman says Ramp, which counts more than 25,000 customers, and the fintech market that Ramp operates in, are ideally suited for something like this. “In a lot of tech ecosystems partnering with other companies can be unusual,” he says. “But as a fintech provider you can’t even get started without partnering with banks and payment platforms.”
Out of the gate, the Ramp App Center will have more than 200 “integrations” from more than 75 partners, including NetSuite, QuickBooks, Puzzle, Digits, Campfire, Ironclad, and Carta. This will both build on what’s already possible with Ramp via its API, while adding more integration capabilities to the platform. These integrations will offer Ramp customers one-click access to various business tools. Specific apps will only be available to Ramp Plus customers, but Ramp isn’t taking a cut or charging extra for any one app. Access to the App Center isn’t gated behind pricing. It’s an opportunity for developers to, once on the app store, monetize in part by leveraging Ramp’s seal of approval. The idea, says Glyman, is to streamline tedious but necessary back office tasks for customers, giving them more time to focus on their core business.
For Redpoint Ventures managing director Logan Bartlett, a key sign of the App Center’s success will be when examples arise of businesses that are “turbocharged” by the app store. “I’d love it if we also have early signs of businesses that possibly wouldn’t have existed if not for the creation of this,” Bartlett says.
“A year from now, success for me would have nothing to do with monetization,” Bartlett added. “It would be to receive independent validation from net new companies and from net new use cases…The benefit to Ramp is an obvious one, that serving as a nexus within an ecosystem will lead to ancillary stickiness.”
Glyman seems to rather like Kafka, so I raised to him my personal favorite Kafka line (or at least one that’s frequently attributed to the melancholic novelist): “All revolutions evaporate leaving only the slime of a new bureaucracy.” I asked Glyman: How do you prevent ultimately becoming the problem you seek to solve? He has a sense of humor about it, and I appreciate he’s willing to engage with the existential question.
“You’re the voice inside my head, saying ‘how do we not become the enemy!’” Glyman laughs. “I think time will tell, but it has to do with principles, and how companies are organized…So long as we’re trying to hold ourselves accountable to truly showing with each new launch and each new capability that we’re simplifying processes. But this is one of those things where we just have to take that test every year and report back.”
Glyman and I laugh at the idea of an Annual Kafka Test, but maybe it’s a good idea for all kinds of startups. If anyone’s looking to take a Kafka Test, I’m here.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
– Valon, a New York City-based mortgage servicing platform, raised $100 million in Series C funding. WestCap led the round and was joined by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz and others.
– Urbint, a Miami-based AI-powered worker and infrastructure threat detection platform, raised $35 million in funding from S2G Ventures.
– March Biosciences, a Houston-based oncology cell therapy company, raised $28.4 million in Series A funding. Mission BioCapital and 4BIO Capital led the round and were joined by KdT Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Volnay Therapeutics, existing investors TMC Venture Fund, Cancer Focus Fund, Small Ventures, and others.
– Fixify, an Arlington, Va.-based AI-powered IT help desk solution provider, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Costanoa Ventures, Decibel Partners, and Paladin Capital Group led the round and were joined by Scale Venture Partners.
– CyberGuru, a Rome-based cybersecurity awareness training platform, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Riverside Acceleration Capital led the round and was joined by Educapital and existing investors Adara Ventures and P101 Ventures.
– Pantheon AI, a San Francisco-based AI architecture platform, raised $25 million in funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by Felicis and 8VC.
– Granola, a London-based AI-powered note taking platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Spark Capital led the round and was joined by AI Grant, Lightspeed, Betaworks, Firstminute Capital, and others.
– Passkey Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based complex diseases drug developer, raised $20 million in seed funding. Breakout Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, and Bison Ventures led the round and were joined by Wireframe Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and GRIDS Capital.
– Adden Energy, a Waltham, Mass.-based battery technology developer, raised $15 million in Series A funding. At One Ventures led the round and was joined by Primavera Capital Group, Rhapsody Venture Partners, and MassVentures.
– CrewAI, a San Francisco-based AI multi-agent platform, raised $18 million in funding. boldstart ventures led the $6 million inception round. Insight Partners led the $12 million Series A and was joined by Blitzscaling Ventures.
– Sensei, a Lisbon-based contactless store platform, raised €15 million ($16.2 million) in Series A funding. BlueCrow Capital led the round and was joined by Lince Capital, Explorer Investments, Kamay Ventures, and others.
– Freeform, a Hawthorne, Calif.-based AI-driven metal 3D printing company, raised $14 million in funding from NVentures and AE Ventures.
– HealthEx, a San Francisco-based patient preference and consent management platform, raised $14 million in seed and Series A funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by Electric Capital.
– Party Icons, a Hong Kong-based mobile-first gaming platform, raised $9 million in funding. BITKRAFT Ventures led the round and was joined by IDG Capital, Gam3Girl Ventures, Leap Capital, angel investors, and others.
– invygo, a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based car subscription platform, raised $8 million in a Series A-extension from STV, existing investors Al Rajhi Partners, Arab Bank Ventures, SPV, and others.
– Fungiball, a Paris-based fantasy tennis platform, 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 investments and trading solutions platform, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Garuda Ventures led the round and was joined by K50 Ventures, Grit Capital Partners, Niche Capital, and angel investors.
– Dippy AI, a Toronto-based AI companion character developer, raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding. Drive Capital led the round and was joined by Carya VC, Cory Levy, Hustle Fund, and Pareto20.
– Mave, a Toronto-based AI real estate assistant, raised $2 million CAD ($1.4 million) in pre-seed funding. Relay Ventures and N49P led the round and were joined by Alate Partners, Clarim Ventures, Gambit Partners, angel investors, and others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
– Artivo Surfaces, backed by Transom Capital, acquired Tom Duffy Company, a Manteca, Calif.-based wholesale flooring product distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Coker, backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, acquired NorthGauge Healthcare Advisors, a Lakewood, Colo.-based medical review and advisory services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Blue Sage Capital acquired a majority stake in MHW, a Manhasset, N.Y.-based importation, distribution, compliance, and logistics fulfillment service provider for the beverage alcohol industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Driven Distribution, backed by HCI Equity Partners, acquired the auto parts and accessories distribution business of Chicago Parts & Sound, an Elk Grove Village, Ill-based automotive aftermarket parts, batteries, consumables, and accessories distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– The Anderson Group acquired Double B Foods, an Arlington, Texas-based frozen food manufacturer and developer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Vesper Company acquired a minority stake in TAO Digital Solutions, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based tech solutions and service provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Worklyn Partners acquired Harbor Networks, a Framingham, Mass.-based managed voice, IT, and cybersecurity solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
– Apave Group acquired IRISNDT, an Edmonton, Canada-based on-destructive testing and inspection company, from First Reserve. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Branford Castle Partners acquired Hoffman Engineering, a Stamford, Conn.-based aerospace and defense situational awareness solutions provider, from Trident Maritime Systems. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
– CoStar Group agreed to acquire Visual Lease, a Woodbridge, N.J.-based lease accounting and administration software company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Ocuphire Pharma acquired Opus Genetic, a Raleigh, N.C.-based inherited retinal diseases gene therapy company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
– Chemistry, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $350 million for its first fund focused on software companies.
PEOPLE
– Anzu Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based venture capital and private equity firm, added Joey Clark as a principal and SVP of capital solutions. Previously, he was at J.P. Morgan.
