Steve Singh, a Seattle-based business leader and investor, is leading a group of investors in the acquisition of Direct Travel Inc., a Colorado-based corporate travel management company founded in 2011. The company has more than $300 million in annual revenue and 1,800 employees. This acquisition is part of Singh’s effort to assemble the pieces necessary to deliver a seamless experience to corporate travelers, a vision that dates back to his tenure with Concur, a travel and expense management giant that he co-founded in 1993. Singh expressed that the technology architectures needed to create a seamless travel experience were not in place yet.
Christal Bemont, former SAP Concur chief revenue officer and CEO of Talend, has been named the new CEO of Direct Travel. Singh will serve as the executive chairman. Investors participating in the acquisition include Durable Capital Partners, Madrona, Top Tier Capital Partners, and Blackstone Credit & Insurance. While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Singh stated that the acquisition had gone through regulatory review and been completed. Singh mentioned that Direct Travel would partner with other companies he is involved with as executive chairman, such as Spotnana, Center, and Troop.
The goal is to utilize open architectures and APIs to allow anyone to add value and enhance the solutions developed. Corporate travel management is a crucial component, providing services to streamline business travel for organizations. Singh said that Direct Travel is growing at a rate of 10% annually and could potentially increase to 15-20% in the next year while remaining profitable. The vision is to build the most admired and innovative travel management company in the world by leveraging AI to transform the corporate travel experience.
Singh believes that AI will play a significant role in transforming the corporate travel experience by enabling natural language booking experiences, automatically adjusting trips during disruptions, and reducing servicing costs by 30-40%. He envisions Direct Travel having an AI “copilot” as part of its offering in the future. With about 80 locations worldwide and 40 employees in Seattle, Direct Travel is poised for growth and expansion. Singh mentioned that the investment group now has four of the five key pieces needed to reinvent the travel ecosystem and expects to acquire the fifth piece in the next year.
Singh elaborated on the need to reinvent the technology stack for managing hotel inventory and reservations, emphasizing the importance of creating an open and innovative system. He envisions this element being tied into the existing companies within the investment group, including Direct Travel, Spotnana, Center, and Troop. Singh’s overarching goal is to leverage these companies in a complementary manner to transform the travel industry and create a seamless, efficient experience for corporate travelers. The focus is on building a travel management company that is not only successful but also admired and innovative in the industry.
