Shopify Picks Ramp as Its Expense Management Provider

Finance automation platform Ramp says Shopify has chosen it to provide expense management expertise.

And in turn, the company announced Tuesday (Aug. 1) Ramp has used the guidance of Shopify and customers like it to launch a new version of its flagship product, dubbed “Ramp Plus.”

“Our needs are incredibly complex, we weren’t sure anyone could meet them and tried to build a platform ourselves,” Phil Whitham, director and international controller, Shopify, said in a news release. “But then we found Ramp, and we saw a system that had the features we needed to operate and the building blocks we needed in the future.”

“We’ve been in a state of hypergrowth for 10 years, so we know when a partner has the commitment to support that kind of scale,” Whitman said. “Ramp has shown the commitment we need from a long-term partner.”

With Ramp Plus, the release said, companies can control “shadow spend” from employee purchasing, scale and operate anywhere in the world, automate complicated financial processes and avoid overspending. 

Ramp says this expansion “significantly” widens its total addressable market, combining things like bill payments, vendor management and price intelligence, procure-to-pay, and spend management into one platform.

“We believe businesses deserve more from their financial services software and are committed to saving them time and money,” said Ramp CEO Eric Glyman. “Customers want procurement cycles to be more efficient, with a centralized view of the process, from purchase requests to vendor management and payment.”

The launch is happening as most manufacturers and retailers are investing in improving their procurement processes.

That’s according to “Digital Payments Technology: Investing in Payments Systems for the Digital Economy,” a PYMNTS and Corcentric collaboration.

That study found that 57% of manufacturers and 54% of retailers reported that modernizing their procurement processes is the most important reason for their investments in digital procurement systems. 

Meanwhile, 37% of manufacturers and 20% of retailers said the chief reason for investing in working capital and credit systems was to modernize them.

Earlier this summer, Ramp acquired artificial intelligence (AI) startup Cohere.io in a deal designed to bring generative AI to finance.

That, in turn, will help automate workflows, improve customer experiences, and save businesses time and money, the companies said in June.

“We’re committed to investing in high-quality, AI-native talent to deliver transformative solutions for our customers,” Glyman said in a news release.