Interchange Revenue Subsidizes Travel

Ramp and Brex can treat travel as a loss leader because they make money before and after the trip, not just at the moment of booking. A finance team that books travel inside the same product it uses for cards, bill pay, and working capital keeps more spend flowing through that platform. That creates interchange on card swipes, subscription revenue on finance software, and in some cases lending and treasury revenue, which gives these platforms room to price travel more aggressively than a travel only vendor.

• TravelPerk mostly monetizes the travel workflow itself, through booking fees, transaction revenue, and software around policy, approvals, support, and expense management. That means travel unit economics matter directly. Ramp and Brex can spread the economics across a wider bundle, where travel helps win and retain the broader finance account.
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• In practice, the advantage comes from owning the corporate card relationship. If an employee books a flight in Ramp or Brex, then pays with that company card, the platform can capture interchange on the purchase and keep the expense, approval trail, and reconciliation in one system. That makes cheaper booking fees easier to justify.
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• Both companies have already expanded far beyond cards. Ramp has added bill pay, procurement, travel, and treasury, with revenue also coming from subscriptions, financing, FX, ACH and wire fees, affiliate fees in travel, and interest on deposits. Brex has paired cards and expense with business accounts, software, embedded distribution, and a growing global footprint.
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The market is moving toward bundled finance and travel products where booking is one feature inside a larger operating system for spend. That favors companies that control payment rails and balance sheet products, and pushes travel platforms to respond by owning more of expense, cards, and adjacent workflows so they can compete on both price and product depth.