The expense management startup Ramp is under consideration for inclusion in a charge card pilot program by the General Services Administration (GSA) of the U.S. government, as confirmed by the company to TechCrunch on Thursday.
The government’s existing internal expense card initiative, known as SmartPay, represents a $700 billion program. According to a report by Pro Publica, the contract for the charge card pilot program, for which Ramp is being considered, could be valued at up to $25 million.
Pro Publica reports that Ramp has been seeking to capture the administration’s attention since January, prior to President Trump assuming office. In that month, Eric Glyman, co-founder and CEO of Ramp, along with VC investor Kyle Harrison, released a blog post titled “The Efficiency Formula.” The post detailed ways the authors believed the government could eliminate inefficient spending. Kyle Harrison serves as a general partner at the firm Contrary.
The blog post appeared to align with the government initiatives of Elon Musk, particularly given the subsequent creation of the Department of Government Efficiency. This link is underscored by Ramp’s connections to influential figures in Trump’s sphere. Investors in Ramp include the Founders Fund by Peter Thiel, Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital founded by Joshua Kushner (brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner), Joe Lonsdale of 8VC, and Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and brother of former President George W. Bush.
On Thursday, Lindsay McKinley, head of communications at Ramp, stated that the company is actively engaging in a standard procurement process for a SmartPay pilot program, based on the capabilities of their solution. McKinley emphasized that Ramp’s technology has effectively averted billions of dollars in unnecessary spending across the economy and expressed optimism about delivering similar results to the American taxpayer, if selected.
Despite McKinley’s assertive comments, she was referring to Ramp’s positioning as a cost-effective tool for corporations by offering spend management features akin to other platforms, such as setting controls to detect policy-noncompliant expenses. The federal government already has numerous such policies for its employees.
Moreover, McKinley mentioned that the startup became aware of a message shared on X by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on February 18, which noted that approximately 4.6 million government credit cards/accounts processed near 90 million unique transactions amounting to about $40 billion in the fiscal year 2024. A former Ramp customer introduced the company to the GSA shortly afterwards.
As part of the follow-up process, Ramp has showcased its product and is currently included in a standard Request for Information (RFI) process. The firm has not yet received any indication regarding their selection status.
Additionally, in a move separate from the GSA consideration, Ramp doubled its valuation to $13 billion following a $150 million secondary share sale in March. Since its foundation in 2019, the startup has secured over $1 billion in equity financing and has $700 million in committed debt funding.
