Afternoon Coffee: US Senate approves infrastructure bill; Lockstep secures funding from Amex Ventures; Greg Tennyson joins Fairmarkit

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The US Senateapproved a $1 trillion infrastructure billon Tuesday that will focus on rebuilding the nation’s roads and bridges while funding new initiatives on climate and broadband, according to the New York Times.

The legislation is the largest federal investment in infrastructure projects in more than a decade, the article said. Some of the provisions include modernizing the nation’s power grid, managing climate risks, and repairing and replacing aging public works projects. With $550 billion of new federal spending, the infrastructure bill outlines $65 billion for high-speed internet access; $110 billion for roads, bridges and other projects; $25 billion for airports; and funding for Amtrak.

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“This historic investment in infrastructure is what I believe you, the American people, want, what you’ve been asking for for a long, long time,” President Joe Biden said.

Early Wednesday, Senate Democrats also approved a budget resolution that will allow them topass a $3.5 trillion spending plan, The Hill reported.

The New York Times reported that the infrastructure bill now goes to the House of Representatives, which could be a harder road for approval and a more time-consuming process.

Lockstep secures funding from Amex Ventures

Lockstep, an accounting cloud solution provider,announced an investment from Amex Ventures. This latest round comes just months after an earlier funding round led by Point72 Ventures, and now brings Lockstep’s total funding to $17 million since inception.

In a press release announcing the funding, Lockstep said it will use the new funds to expand personnel for product, engineering and marketing. Lockstep processes over $2.5 billion of invoices per month across 4 million accounting departments.

"Lockstep seeks to modernize businesses where it is needed most — accounting and finance departments," Lindsay Fitzgerald, Managing Director at Amex Ventures, said in the press release. "By connecting Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable departments, Lockstep empowers companies to efficiently control their payments, cash flow and working capital. We are pleased to support Lockstep in their mission to streamline corporate payments and reconciliation."

Greg Tennyson joins Fairmarkit as SVP of Strategy and Procurement

Fairmarkit周三，帮助采购和分析的尾部支出专家格雷格宣布丁尼生加入了这家初创公司as its first SVP of Strategy and Procurement.

Tennyson most recently acted as the CPO and VP of Corporate Services for VSP Global, a vision care and eyewear business. He also spent many years of his career as CPO of Salesforce andOracle. At Fairmarkit, Tennyson will work closely with prospects, customers and the leadership team to create a product roadmap that balances procurement and innovation.

“在过去的几年中,格雷格一直在帮助advise our team and me personally, and we’ve been so grateful to have his guidance as we attempt to shake up procurement for the world’s biggest companies,” Kevin Frechette, CEO and co-Founder of Fairmarkit, wrote in a blog post. “From our very first meeting, it was clear that Greg — while it’s certainly not his first rodeo offering advice to ambitious start-ups like ours — truly believes in our vision to transform the way businesses purchase and manage the things they need.”

Fairmarkit was named on Spend Matters' list of start-ups in ourfirst Future 5 list, and last year, Fairmarkit was named to our2020 list of 50 Providers to Watch.

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