American Express to Acquire Center, an Expense Management Startup

American Express said Thursday it plans to acquire Center, a startup platform for expense management.

Center CEO Naveen Singh founded the company in 2017. His father, Steve Singh, is executive chairman. Center last raised $30 million in series C funding in 2023, which the company said brought its total raised to $140 million.

American Express’s corporate management offerings primarily revolve around issuing corporate cards to clients. Its expense management services comes through third-party platforms, including Concur and Emburse.

Washington-based Center says its platform is meant to give businesses real-time visibility into employee spending, as well as automate accounting tasks and streamline expense submission processes. 

American Express said it would be integrating Center’s “talent and technology.”

“Center’s software, together with American Express’ corporate and small business cards, will aim to create a seamless expense management platform that delivers more value across the commercial card payments process” American Express said in a statement.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

Center had been working with Steve Singh’s group of corporate travel companies — including Direct Travel, Troop, and Spotnana — in their goal toward creating a smoother business travel experience. Steve Singh and investors acquired Direct Travel in 2024. 

There’s been a fair amount of activity in the corporate travel and expense management world as companies look to capitalize on a largely untapped market. 

Amex GBT in 2024 said it plans to acquire CWT for $570 million, though the deal has been hitting some roadblocks. 

TravelPerk this year raised $200 million — on top of $104 million the year prior — and acquired another startup as it aims to become an all-in-one corporate travel and expense management platform. Last year, competing startups Engine and Ramp also raised large amounts of funding.