Gelco
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Business process management |
| Founded | 1894 |
| Founder | Edgar A. Walz |
| Fate | Acquired by Concur Technologies in 2007 |
| Headquarters | Minnesota , United States |
| Products | Employee expense administration software (e.g., Vectr, ExpenseLink) |
Number of employees | thousands (implied by "thousands of global clients") |
| Parent | Concur Technologies (since 2007) |
Gelco operated as a company focused on business process management, particularly in the area of employee expense administration, and is now integrated within Concur Technologies.
History
The company originated in 1894 when Edgar A. Walz founded it to tackle the issue of unpaid hotel bills by traveling business professionals. Initially named the National Debtor Record Company, Walz utilized his background as a telegraph operator and bookkeeper to establish a nationwide credit system for hotels, which he called Credit Letter, later evolving into TravelCard, aimed at supporting an expanding mobile sales force.
In 1941, the organization adopted the name Traveletter Corporation and introduced its Traveletter service. By 1965, it had broadened its scope to include management of trade promotion funds for manufacturers. The year 1972 marked the sale of Traveletter by Walz to General Equipment Leasing Corporation (Gelco), which subsequently moved the headquarters to Minnesota. In 1981, Gelco renamed the enterprise Gelco Payment Systems.
Gelco Payment Systems was acquired by General Electric Capital in 1986. The next year, Gelco unveiled Vectr, its inaugural PC/DOS-based software for expense management that facilitated electronic bank draft processing. That same year, Gelco transitioned to private ownership and was renamed Gelco PayNetwork. Following acquisition by The Harper Group, it became part of H-G Holdings, Inc.
In 1995, Gelco expanded by acquiring Federal Software Inc., thereby incorporating federal government travel services such as Travel Lightning and Travel Manager. The company rebranded itself as Gelco Information Network and launched ExpenseLink in 1996, its third PC-based automated expense-reporting system. By the close of the 1990s, these offerings were delivered as software as a service.
In 2000, Gelco divided its operations into two distinct units: Gelco Trade Management Group and Gelco Expense Management Group. The latter catered to thousands of global clients with a user base exceeding 625,000, handling over 9 million transactions and processing payments totaling $7 billion annually.
In 2007, H-G Holdings along with its subsidiaries including Gelco Information Network were acquired by Concur Technologies.