Direct Travel Acquired by Concur Founder Steve Singh

By Matt Turner Apr 2, 2024 9:53am

Direct Travel, Inc., a corporate travel management company that recently hosted its first-ever leisure conference, has been acquired by Steve Singh, venture capitalist and founder of the world's largest travel and expense management company, Concur. In his acquisition, Singh is joined by growth investors including Durable Capital Partners, Madrona Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners and Blackstone Credit & Insurance. Singh will serve as Executive Chairman of Direct Travel and Christal Bemont will assume the role of CEO.

Direct Travel is one of the world's largest travel management companies, serving over 4,500 mid-market and enterprise clients. Singh said he was drawn to the company because it was “re-inventing key elements of the travel ecosystem. He pointed to Direct Travel’s own AI innovations around client experience with a modern integrated travel technology stack from Spotnana (travel-as-a-service platform), Center (card-first expense management platform) and Troop (group meetings and events platform).

As part of the acquisition, long-serving CEO Ed Adams, who founded the company in 2011 and helped establish it as a market leader, plans to retire. Adams was named one of the “Top 25 Most Influential Business Travel Executives” and was recently inducted into the Business Travel News Group Hall of Fame. Bemont, the newly appointed CEO of Direct Travel, was formerly CEO of Talend, and before that, she served as the chief revenue officer of SAP Concur.

Said Bemont: "I look forward to building on [Adams’] tremendous foundation, supporting our existing customers, and, alongside the talented leaders at Direct Travel and several former Concur executives, our goal is to build the most admired and innovative travel management company in the industry."

This story originally appeared on www.meetingspotlight.com.

Direct Travel Acquired by Concur Founder Steve Singh

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