Business travel and expense company Concur continues its investment binge with a $5 million strategic investment in airfare and hotel rate tracking service Yapta.
And the immediate beneficiary is Concur unit TripIt as users of its premium TripIt Pro service, which is geared toward business travelers, will be able to access the Yapta airfare tracking and price assurance services. With Yapta, users can recieve partial refunds from U.S. airlines when the fare drops after a booking.
Yapta had already powered flight-tracking for TripIt's free service, and now this will be extended to TripIt Pro when the two parties integrate the service.
And, the Yapta-Concur alliance benefiting TripIt is just the beginning of the partnership, the companies say, with both parties looking to integrate Yapta's service further into Concur's travel management products.
The companies say the alliance is a natural given Concur's focus on more efficient travel spend.
For Yapta, the partnership will punctuate its push into being a provider of business travel services, says Jeff Pecor, a Yapta spokesman.
Concur has been on an investment drive in 2011.
In January, Concur acquired TripIt in a deal worth up to $120 million, and in April Concur invested $40 million in India online travel agency Cleartrip.
And, now Concur's latest move is a $5 million investment in Yapta.