Ramp is opening its first international offices, in London and Stockholm.
US expense management startup Ramp today signified its European ambitions, acquiring a London and Stockholm-based payment outfit, as it takes on US rival Brex which is also making a play in Europe.
Ramp, valued at $32bn, has snapped up fintech Billhop, a deal that will see Ramp open its first international offices, in London and Stockholm.
Billhop, which employs around 15 people, is a payment infrastructure fintech operating across the EEA and UK. Billhop, founded in 2012, is headquartered in Stockholm. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Its tech allows the speedy payment of business invoices, even where suppliers do not accept cards
Billhop holds a Payment Institution licence from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen), which gives it passporting rights across the EEA. Ramp offers an all-in-one solution combining payments, corporate cards, vendor management, procurement, travel booking, and automated bookkeeping.
Nearly half of Ramp customers transact internationally across more than 180 countries every week. By acquiring Billhop, Ramp says it’s strengthening its ability to support businesses across the UK and EU. New York-headquartered Ramp, which has over 50,000 business customers, says it will begin onboarding businesses headquartered in the UK and EU directly this summer.
Eric Glyman, co-founder and CEO of Ramp, said: “We’ve spent years building Ramp into something the most ambitious US companies rely on. This summer, for the first time, companies headquartered in the UK and EU will be able to use Ramp directly. In their first year, the median Ramp customer saves 5% and grows revenue 16%. Europe is home to extraordinary companies. We can’t wait to get to work.”
Niklas Bothén, CEO of Billhop, said: “Our mission at Billhop has always been to remove friction from B2B payments and make it easier for businesses to manage their spend. Joining Ramp allows us to realise that vision at a much larger scale. Together, we can help companies move money across countries and currencies faster, more intelligently, and with less complexity.”
Ramp is pitching itself up against Brex, which was recently acquired by US financial services giant Capital One for $5.15bn.
Prior to being acquired by Capital One, Brex announced it was expanding into Europe, having bagged a licence that allows it to serve European-headquartered businesses and is planning to roll out its services across the EU and the UK.