- Evature's natural-language search technology to be integrated into Concur solutions to drive Concur's vision for The Perfect Trip
REDMOND, Washington, Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Concur (NASDAQ: CNQR), a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions, today announced that it has made a $2 million investment in Evature, the developer of the Expert Virtual Agent (EVA) which provides natural-language search capabilities for online travel. This investment is part of the Concur Perfect Trip™ Fund, $150 million in capital allocated specifically to invest in and nurture emerging companies in the T&E Cloud. Through this initiative, Concur continues to identify and partner with promising companies that will participate in the Concur T&E Cloud, driving continued innovation to fuel Concur's vision of The Perfect Trip.
EVA, the winner of PhoCusWright's 2011 Travel Innovation Summit DEMO Award for the most game-changing travel innovation, is a revolutionary B2B service based on natural-language processing algorithms that are specifically designed for travel, enabling travel companies to offer their customers the ability to more easily search for travel.
"Concur's vision for The Perfect Trip is built on creating a travel ecosystem that dynamically responds to the needs of business travelers, the companies that they work for and the suppliers that serve them," said Steve Singh, chairman and CEO of Concur. "Entrepreneurs like Evature are developing the next set of innovations that will help drive the state-of-the-art in our industry, ultimately delivering a better travel experience. Through the power of the Concur T&E Cloud, we're bringing the best of these innovations together to revolutionize business travel and deliver greater value to corporate clients, suppliers and travelers alike."
"The investment by Concur represents a major vote of confidence in Evature's vision and further validation of our technology," said Barry Volinskey, CEO of Evature. "EVA enables travelers to experience an easier and more intuitive way to search, book and manage travel. Leveraging Concur's leadership, we look forward to delivering new and exciting EVA based products and services to corporate travelers around the world."
About Concur
Concur is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions. Concur's easy-to-use Web-based and mobile solutions help companies and their employees control costs and save time. Concur Connect is the platform that enables the entire travel and expense ecosystem of customers, suppliers, and developers to access and extend Concur's T&E cloud. Concur's systems adapt to individual employee preferences and scale to meet the needs of companies from small to large. Learn more at www.concur.com or the Concur blog.
About Evature
Evature enables natural-language travel search for mobile and regular websites, social networks and applications, increasing conversion rates and user satisfaction. Evature's web service is based on innovative Natural Language Processing algorithms, specifically designed for "travel language," delivering a never before possible user experience. Learn more at www.evature.com
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