a similar digital-first feature in August. However, Ramp’s offering also integrates the cross-border payments with its flagship spending-management platform, which uses machine-learning technology to analyze expenses and recommend cost-cutting moves. As part of the launch, Ramp has worked with NetSuite to offer sales-tax support, including automatically telling clients when they may be liable for tax remittances or eligible for rebates on foreign transactions.
Among Ramp clients, New York City-based health-tech startup Candid has reaped the benefits of a strong dollar by expanding its overseas labor and production footprint. The company, which raised $160 million from investors in November, makes teeth-straightening aligners akin to Invisalign and last month opened a 83,000-square-foot factory in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico.
Rising foreign-business outlays on Ramp have been biggest in freight services, with spending on major providers like Maersk and FedEx Freight climbing more than six times this year from 2021 levels. Spending on international shipping providers has grown more than 300%. Ramp says customers are increasingly tapping into global freelancer marketplaces such as Upwork and Toptal, on which transactions have jumped fourfold this year.
The push helps expand Ramp’s reach in the $120 trillion payments market as many fintechs struggle. The Global X FinTech ETF, which counts payments companies Block and Adyen among its biggest components, has cratered 49% this year, compared with a 21% decline for the S&P 500. Ramp, which makes money from taking a share of credit-card interchange fees, landed an $8.1 billion valuation in March and has raised more than $1.