Steve Singh

Concur Technologies doesn’t get as much attention as its publicly-traded Seattle area counterparts. After all, filling out travel and entertainment expense reports typically ranks right behind going to the dentist.

But Concur’s technology, which helps automate expenses at hundreds of companies throughout the world, is getting some serious traction as it enters its 20th year in business. It won a huge $1.4 billion contract in June from the U.S. General Services Administration, overseeing online bookings, travel authorizations and vouchers across all U.S. government agencies.

Shares of the company soared on the news, and they’ve remained positive for the year, up more than 23 percent. (Not many other tech companies in the region, except for Amazon, have performed better).

That alone would be enough to place CEO Steve Singh on the GeekWire Newsmakers list this year.

We’ll recognize the Newsmakers of the Year at the GeekWire Gala, Dec. 6 at McCaw Hall in Seattle. Details and Tickets Here.

But Singh has done much more, taking a bold step earlier this month when the company announced a new $150 million fund to bankroll travel-oriented startups. Some Seattle area startups have already benefitted from Concur’s war chest — namely Buuteeq (which landed $10 million in October). Singh also has become more active in the startup community, making an angel investment in Modumetal and joining the startup’s board as chairman. (Modumetal’s Christina Lomasney also is a 2012 GeekWire Newsmaker.)

It’s sometimes hard for companies to keep momentum after nearly two decades in business. But Concur, which successfully made the lead very early in its history to selling software-as-a-service, just now appears to be hitting a new stride.

In fact, Concur is simply trying to keep up with the growth. The 2,200-person company announced that it plans to relocate from Redmond to a 122,742-square-foot downtown Bellevue office tower next year.

We’ll be spotlighting all of our 2012 Newsmakers on GeekWire over the next month, leading up to the GeekWire Gala on Dec. 6 at McCaw Hall in Seattle. Many of the newsmakers, including Singh and Lomasney, will be joining us and the rest of the tech community on that night to mark a remarkable year of news.

Go here to read profiles of other GeekWire Newsmakers of the Year.

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