Congressman Gerald Connolly recently launched an investigation into Ramp, a quickly scaling expense management tech unicorn. He worries that his company may face preferential treatment as Ramp pursues a $25 million federal contract. Since launching in 2019, Ramp has established itself as one of the most important players on the fintech scene. In March, it reached a valuation of $13 billion following a successful $150 million secondary share sale.
Ramp, which has raised more than $1 billion in equity financing so far, is marketing aggressively to the U.S. government as a potential customer. Add in $700 million in committed debt funding and the startup is suddenly looking very strong in the competitive fintech startup space. Notable investors include heavy-hitters such as Peter Thiel’s Founders fund and recently Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures. Founded by Josh Kushner, Thrive Capital is an important part of this roster.
Ramp is just getting ramped up with outreach to companies in the payments industry. They’re looking for special bank identification numbers that are the last mile on the road to receiving government payments. Notably, this outreach all took place before an RFI for the contract was publicly announced. Just a few days after DOGE’s public post on X on February 18, a former customer acted. Through countless meetings and phone calls, they managed to introduce Ramp to the General Services Administration (GSA), the federal agency that manages all federal contracts.
Through its investigation, Rep. Connolly’s office wants to understand if Ramp was given preferential treatment in its winning bid for the government contract. In writing, he has asked the Administration for all information and documentation related to the GSA’s plans to award a contract under a pilot program to Ramp.
One GSA employee referred to Ramp as a “favorite” during the bidding process. This comment raises profound issues of the fairness of the selection process.
“favorite” – GSA employee (as mentioned by Rep. Gerald Connolly)
Ramp’s currently high levels of scrutiny take place as part of an overall national push for more transparency and equity in federal contracting processes. Ramp’s backers are just as impressive. Joe Lonsdale of 8VC, an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush are two.
Ramp is fortunate to be on an incredibly ambitious growth trajectory. The result of that investigation may have a significant impact on its future government contracts and standing in the public fintech sector.