HRS Agrees to Acquire Expense Management Platform Paypense

HRS has agreed to acquire Germany-based expense management platform Paypense, which it will integrate into its own HRS Pay spend management platform, the company announced.

Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Launched two years ago, Paypense combines corporate card and expense management functions, enabling companies to distribute Paypense virtual cards and set up budgets defined by amount, occasion and duration. It has developed a “matrix approval engine” that can create pre-approved budgets for employees, groups and those who temporarily need to manage expenses, such as job candidates, and its mobile app tracks purchases to ensure they stay within those parameters.

“We’re working in concert with expense providers and financial institutions, not competing with them, as we transition from expense management to spend management,” Paypense founder and CEO Christopher Hecht said in a statement. “And with all parties squarely focusing on enhancing the employee experience, we’re increasing satisfaction even as we uncover new avenues of payment efficiency.”

HRS said the acquisition will close sometime this month, with Paypense employees becoming employees of HRS Pay. Hecht will become HRS Pay’s chief product officer, overseeing development within the unit.

The acquisition will broaden HRS Pay’s spend management capabilities to cover “not only travel-related spend, but also nontravel, localized spend that accounts for significant expense,” HRS Pay chief growth officer Kurt Knackstedt said in a statement. HRS CEO Tobias Ragge said the acquisition also builds on last year’s acquisition of hotel invoice management specialist Itelya, which has built up its capabilities for data collection and management specific to hotel stays.

Michael B. Baker  www.businesstravelnews.com