Concur founder Steve Singh and investors acquire Direct Travel

Direct Travel, a corporate travel management specialist, has been acquired by venture capitalist and Concur co-founder Steve Singh for an undisclosed sum.

Singh is joined in the investment by Durable Capital Partners, Madrona Venture Group - where he is managing director - Top Tier Capital Partners and Blackstone Credit and Insurance.

The news comes on the heels of 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, takes up the role of executive chairman of Direct Travel while Christal Bemont, previously CEO of Talend and a former chief revenue officer at Concur, becomes CEO.

Direct Travel, which has locations across the United Kingdom and North America, has annual revenue of $300 million with Singh predicting the company will grow 10% in the next year and 15% to 20% thereafter.

“Over the past few years, our investment group has sought out companies that are re-inventing key elements of the travel ecosystem with a goal of delivering a dramatically better value proposition to business travelers, the companies they work for, and the travel providers that serve them,” Singh said.

“Spotnana, Center and Troop are re-inventing and dramatically improving core elements of the travel technology stack. Direct Travel sets the bar for customer experience. We will invest to meet our customers’ current needs, grow our customer base in each of the markets we serve, methodically expand the number of markets we serve, and the breadth of products we deliver to our clients.”

Madrona Venture Group has previously invested in meetings technology specialist Troop, and corporate travel technology startup Spotnana.

Singh is also executive chairman at expense management company Center, which is run by his son Naveen Singh. 

According to a statement, Direct Travel will integrate Spotnana’s technology stack, Center’s expense management expertise and Troop’s meetings and groups travel planning platform as well as its own artificial intelligence innovations.

Direct Travel founder and CEO Ed Adams plans to retire.

“I want to take this opportunity to recognize and thank Ed,” Bemont said.

“He is an amazing person and accomplished leader who has developed a world-class organization with an unwavering commitment to customer success.”

Bemont continued, “Years ago, Steve laid out a vision for The Perfect Trip. Our announcement is a huge step toward making that vision a reality. Today the innovation begins as we embark on a new era of growth for the benefit of our customers. Together with our technology partners and extensive supplier network, we will continue to invest in proprietary technology around user experience and dynamic client services, all of which we plan to make available as a service to other travel management companies.”

Between 2011 and 2014, Concur invested in a number of travel technology and online travel companies including TripIt, as Singh laid out his vision for the "Perfect Trip."