American Express announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Center, an expense management software company. Center’s solutions, together with American Express’ corporate and small business cards, said the announcement, will create a seamless expense management platform that delivers more value across the commercial card payments process — from choice in premium card offerings and rewards to automated accounting and reconciliation.

Center is part of Steve’s Singh’s corporate travel investment ownings via his investment group Madrona Ventures, which includes Spotnana, Troop and travel management company Direct Travel.

Raymond Joabar, group president, global commercial services at American Express, said that by integrating Center’s talent and technology, “we can save our customers time and money and strengthen our leadership position in commercial card payments.”

Naveen Singh, CEO and co-founder of Center and Steve Singh’s son, said the company was founded “with the mission of driving simplicity in the user experience and making expense management as effortless as swiping your card.” He said the company “has always believed that card and expense management should be deeply linked, and we believe that even more great work can be done by incorporating our capabilities and talent into American Express.”

Center’s software is designed to remove friction from the expense management process, according to the announcement, giving businesses real-time visibility into all employee spending, automating manual accounting tasks, streamlining expense submissions and reporting, and equipping finance teams with the tools and insights needed to better optimize decision making.

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

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