Perk, formerly known as TravelPerk, has launched a new platform integrating travel and spend management through an AI-native experience. The rebrand signifies a broader mission to automate and eliminate what the company terms “shadow work”—the hidden, non-core tasks that reduce productivity, such as booking trips, filing expenses, coding invoices, and managing approvals.
Research commissioned by Perk and conducted by Forrester Consulting indicates that shadow work costs businesses $1.7 trillion annually across six major economies: the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. The study found that employees spend approximately seven hours per week on these tasks, losing an average of 11 minutes of focus each time they switch back to their primary responsibilities.
Perk’s intelligent platform is designed to automate two-thirds (67%) of these non-core activities. Unlike fragmented solutions, the platform provides a unified global experience, allowing companies to apply spending and travel rules consistently. Avi Meir, Perk CEO and Co-Founder, highlighted the scale of the problem: “More than a decade ago, we started by removing the friction from traveling for work. Over time, we realized those small, frustrating tasks people do outside of their core job weren’t just hiding in travel, they were everywhere. To truly solve the problem, we first had to grasp its scale, and the numbers from the research surprised even me. How can a 1,000 person company afford to lose around 7,000 hours to shadow work every week? Perk gives companies the fuel they need to make work simpler and give people their time back.”
Central to this offering is Perk’s new AI-native Spend Management module, which automates everyday tasks from expenses and invoices to card payments. With Perk Pay, businesses can issue physical cards to streamline spending, centralize financial oversight, reduce fraud risks, and automate expense reconciliation. An in-house AI lab at Perk continuously learns from anonymized data related to trips, receipts, invoices, and payments, enhancing automation accuracy and speed for over 10,000 companies globally.
The platform is designed for rapid deployment, featuring deep integrations and an open ecosystem that connects with leading ERP, HRIS, and expense management tools. This flexibility enables businesses to streamline operations and simplify workflows.
Perk, founded in 2015, has surpassed $300 million in annualized revenue and is establishing dual headquarters in Boston and London, reflecting its global expansion. The company has made two strategic acquisitions in less than a year, secured Series E financing to fuel innovation, and invested significantly in AI development. With over 1,800 employees across 12 global offices, Perk is positioned for accelerated growth.
The research further detailed the impact of shadow work: 69% of employees engage in these tasks during working hours, 45% identify it as a primary cause of burnout, and 52% report an annual increase in shadow work. Additionally, 50% of employees noted a reduction in job satisfaction due to these tasks, with 70% expressing a desire for AI-enabled tools to assist. Approximately 67% of surveyed decision-makers plan to reinvest the time saved through automation into growth and innovation. The study surveyed 721 decision-makers in finance, operations, HR, and IT, and 8,004 employees across the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Perk’s clientele includes companies such as Wise, On Running, Breitling, and Fabletics, underscoring its role in helping businesses regain productivity and focus on core activities.
