Corporate travel management specialist Direct Travel has been acquired by venture capitalist and Concur co-founder Steve Singh for an undisclosed sum.
Mr. Singh participates in investments from Durable Capital Partners, Madrona Venture Group (where he is a managing director), Top Tier Capital Partners, and Blackstone Credit & Insurance.
The news follows last week's announcement that American Express Global Business Travel plans to acquire CWT for $570 million.
Singh, who sold Concur to SAP for $8.3 billion in 2014, will take over the role of executive chairman of Direct Travel, while Christal Bemont, CEO of Talend and former chief revenue officer of Concur, will become CEO.
Direct Travel, which is based in the UK and North America, has annual revenues of $300 million, and Singh expects the company to grow 10% next year and 15% to 20% thereafter.
“Over the past few years, our investment group has reinvented key elements of the travel ecosystem with the goal of delivering a dramatically better value proposition to business travelers, the companies they work for, and travel providers. I've been looking for companies that are doing the same thing. Serve them,'' Singh said.
“Spotnana, Center and Troop are reinventing and dramatically improving the core elements of the travel technology stack. Direct Travel sets the standard for customer experience. We invest to meet the current needs of our customers. “We will continue to grow our customer base in each market we serve and systematically expand the number of markets we serve and the breadth of products we offer to our customers.”
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Madrona Venture Group has previously invested in conference technology specialist Troop and corporate travel technology startup Spotnana.
Singh is also executive chairman of Center, an expense management company run by his son Naveen Singh.
Direct Travel will integrate Spotnana's technology stack, Center's expense management expertise, Troop's meetings and group travel planning platform, as well as proprietary artificial intelligence innovations, according to a statement.
Direct Travel founder and CEO Ed Adams is retiring.
“I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank Ed,” Bemont said.
“He is a great person and an outstanding leader who has developed a world-class organization with an unwavering commitment to customer success.”
Mr. Bemont continued, “Years ago, Steve laid out his vision for the 'Perfect Trip.' Our announcement is a major step toward realizing that vision. Today, we are committed to helping our customers… As we embark on a new era of growth for profit, innovation begins. We continue to invest in our proprietary technologies for user experience and dynamic customer service, working with our technology partners and extensive supplier network to We plan to make all of these services available as a service to other travel management companies.”
From 2011 to 2014, Concur invested in a number of travel technology and online travel companies, including TripIt, as Singh described his vision of the “perfect trip.”
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