Vertical Integration Blocks New Entrants

The real barrier is not the card itself, it is owning both the money rails and the finance workflow where enterprises already work. Brex has built direct card infrastructure and plugs it into systems like Navan, Coupa, and Oracle, while Ramp has built deep accounting and finance integrations plus channel partnerships like Sage and CoreTrust. That makes a newcomer compete not just for a card program, but for distribution, reconciliation, controls, and trust inside existing enterprise systems.

• Brex uses vertical integration to ship capabilities that are hard to match with a thinner stack. It built direct network connectivity, supports local cards across 50 plus countries and acceptance in 120 countries, and uses that infrastructure to win enterprise travel and procurement flows through Navan, Coupa, and Oracle.
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• Ramp is building a different barrier, around being the default finance operations layer. Its App Center, ERP integrations, enterprise controls, and partnerships with Sage and CoreTrust make Ramp part of how finance teams approve spend, sync accounting data, and roll out policy across a portfolio or customer base.
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• This matters for Keep because newer players usually start by offering a better card or cheaper product. But incumbents are bundling cards with bill pay, travel, procurement, reimbursements, and accounting connections, so replacing them means retraining employees and rewiring finance operations, not just swapping payment tools.
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The market is heading toward fewer, broader winners. The companies that keep climbing are the ones that either own more of the underlying infrastructure, like Brex, or become deeply embedded in the finance stack and partner ecosystem, like Ramp. For Keep, the durable path is to lock in a segment where those enterprise distribution loops are weaker and local product fit matters more.