Ramp Acquires Jolt AI Team to Enhance Engineer Productivity
Expenditure management startup Ramp has made headlines with its acquisition of the team from Jolt AI, a three-person startup. The move aims to bolster Ramp’s engineering capabilities, making its team “as productive as possible,” according to exclusive comments from the company to Crunchbase News.
The Significance of the Acquisition
While the acquisition may seem modest in scale, it holds substantial importance in illustrating the pervasive impact of artificial intelligence across various startups. This trend is particularly evident among fast-growing companies, not exclusively focused on AI yet leveraging its capabilities to enhance productivity and efficiency.
Ramp’s Growing Footprint in Fintech
Based in New York, Ramp is a prominent player in the fintech landscape, boasting a valuation of $22.5 billion and projected annual revenues of $1 billion in 2025. The company saw its valuation nearly double to $13 billion earlier this year, supported by a surge in annual revenues to $700 million in January. Significantly, Ramp reported earlier this year that it has started to “generate cash flows,” indicating a healthy growth trajectory.
Jolt AI’s Evolution and Impact
Since its inception in 2022, Jolt AI has successfully raised close to $2.5 million in funding from notable investors like Alumni Ventures, 8-bit Capital, and Engineering Capital. Initially launched as a charge testing platform, Jolt pivoted in 2024 to develop an AI coding assistant aimed at streamlining large-scale code production.
Startups Acquiring Startups: A Growing Trend
This acquisition is aligned with a broader trend where startups are increasingly buying other startups. In the first three quarters of 2025 alone, there were 647 mergers and acquisitions involving startups acquiring one another, a 20% increase from 539 during the same period in the previous year. In total, nearly 1,000 transactions were recorded in 2021 and 2022 combined, according to Crunchbase data.
Boosting Engineer Productivity with AI
Karim Atiyeh, co-founder and CTO of Ramp, explained that the rapid growth of the company can be attributed to a focus on product speed and overall efficiency, especially as AI becomes more prevalent in finance. He noted that Ramp customers can now accomplish three times more than they could just two years ago, and the goal is to reach 30 times that output in the coming years. The addition of the Jolt team, dedicated to enhancing engineer productivity, plays a crucial role in this vision.
Future Innovations in Financial Workflows
With Jolt’s trio of skilled engineers—including Spektor, Jon Reynolds (CTO), and Carlos Kelly (lead engineer)—now part of Ramp’s engineering platform team, the company anticipates significant advancements in AI applications. Their expertise will not only enhance Ramp’s internal tools but will also focus on customer-facing products designed to integrate AI into financial workflows.
Conclusion: The Future of Ramp and AI in Fintech
As Ramp continues to expand its footprint in the corporate expense and management space, the integration of AI stands to revolutionize its software and service offerings. With a substantial customer base exceeding 45,000, including major firms like Shopify and Stripe, Ramp is well-positioned to lead the fintech market. This strategic acquisition aligns with industry experts’ observations about the accelerating pace of AI adoption, signaling a vibrant future for Ramp and its innovative solutions.