"When we looked across the industry, it became clear that the TripActions Group is the best positioned to take the European market,” says Michael Riegel, CEO of Comtravo. “With our strong customer and supplier relations, Comtravo will focus on ensuring that the combined group has the best product offering in the region. We are thrilled to become a part of TripActions’ success story in the EU and beyond."
TripActions to acquire Comtravo to drive expansion in Europe
With the latest merger, the TripActions Groupsupports more than 7,500 customers and closed thesecond acquisition in Europe within 8 months.
TripActions, the only modern, all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management solution,today announced its agreement to acquire Comtravo,the market-leading travel management companyserving the German, Austrian, and Swiss (DACH) and Scandinavian regions. The agreement marks the second Europe-based acquisition for the TripActions Group, with the total investment across the UnitedKingdom and Europe exceeding $400 million in lessthan a year.
Comtravo brings to the TripActions Group a wealth of regional expertise and inventory, including domesticrail, low cost carriers, and ancillary air travel supplythat will further the group’s dominance in the region. Specialized invoicing and VAT technology will contribute additional cost- and time-saving offerings to TripActions’ robust end-to-end solution, while localizedsupport will double the number of agents available toassist travelers in Europe.
Combined, the TripActions Group will now supportmore than 7,500 customers and manage nearly €5billion in total travel budget across more than 94countries — with half of the group’s business now inEurope and the UK.
Founded in 2015 by Jannik Wässa and Riegel, and backed by investors including Microsoft Venture Fundand Deutsche Bank, Berlin-based Comtravo offers aunique combination of technology and human touch thatputs customers at the center of its business model.
For Comtravo’s existing customers, this acquisition mainly means a broader technological product offering,including, e.g., a fully integrated expensemanagement system. Furthermore, TripActions’customers benefit from a stronger service portfolio.“With Comtravo joining forces with TripActions, we feellike we have the best of both worlds — local inventoryand support, with the benefit of TripActions’ global reachand industry-leading tech stack,” says TripActions customer Taisa Boyse, Global Accounting OperationsManager at Celonis.
In the span of eight months, the TripActions Group acquired high-touch travel and events service Reed &Mackay; announced a first-of-its-kind corporate travelbooking platform in partnership with Lufthansa Group; and launched its fintech-powered corporate card and expense management solution, Liquid, in EMEA. Theacquisition adds to the company’s rapid geographic growth, with offices now in London, Amsterdam, Paris,Dublin, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Tel Aviv, and Lisbon.
“TripActions is on the fast track to dominate travel and expense on a global scale,” says TripActions co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen. “We’ve invested heavily across Europe over the past year and Comtravo is the perfect addition to build out our regional offering as theonly truly global all-in-one travel, corporate card, andexpense management solution.”
