Israel-based Evature is the first recipient of an new programme created by travel and expense technology company Concur to invest in startups.
The voice technology startup – creator of the EVA (Expert Virtual Agent) tool – will receive $2 million from Concur as part of the Concur Perfect Trip initiative.
The idea behind the $150 million fund, Concur says, is to “identify and partner with promising companies that will participate in the Concur T&E Cloud”.
No other companies have been identified as yet.
Evature has had a number of earlier successes in its relatively short history, securing a voice tool deal with iCruise earlier this year as well as working with Travelport as part of its entry for the PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit, which it eventually won.
It also took part in this year’s THack in London.
Concur chairman and CEO Steve Singh says:
“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.”
This is not the first time Concur has splashed out on startups, of course, buying mobile travel management itinerary service TripIt in January 2011.
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About Kevin May
Great to see a 2011 Phocuswright Innovation Summit Alumni go to the next level. Good to luck to the 2012 crowd.