When Steve Brackney, who leads mergers and acquisitions for car rental giant Enterprise Holdings, pulled the trigger on the company's January acquisition of San Francisco-based corporate travel booking platform Deem, the deal was the culmination of years of increasingly close cooperation between the two organizations. Enterprise nabbed its first investment stake in Deem in 2016, and its EHIDirect booking platform for small and midsize businesses has run on Deem's technology since 2011. Last year, the firms joined on a car and driver service in China operating under Enterprise's National Car Rental brand.
"We saw this as an opportunity to acquire an innovative travel platform that we have partnered with for several years," Brackney said.
Beyond solidifying that established relationship, bringing Deem fully under its corporate umbrella was a major competitive maneuver by Enterprise, which already enjoys a dominant share of the global car rental market. That's because Deem, which after the acquisition continues to operate autonomously under CEO John Rizzo, also supplies several Enterprise competitors with booking technology—essentially turning those competitors into clients.
The acquisition also brings into the Enterprise fold Deem's intellectual property and tech talent, with which Enterprise plans to expand its line of services to better meet travelers' ever-evolving demands. On the flip side, Enterprise's capital and massive global footprint enable Deem to put the pedal to the metal when it comes to development, accelerating the pace for developing and deploying new products and services at scale. And Deem's recent decision to sunset its in-house expense platform enables the company to focus its full efforts on transport-related initiatives, such as deeper integration with the ride hailing industry.
"The acquisition offers an exciting opportunity that reaches beyond traditional travel … and ultimately enhances our ability to create innovative solutions to support the future of transportation," Brackney said.