Coupa's 15 Acquisitions

Hey Team SID,

Hope all are well and fighting the good fight! When the Godfather asks for help discussing other companies, us capos and soldiers must step up. Bene… bene, Fooleones…

So it caught my eye that Coupa has made 15 acquisitions in the last six years. I decided to look each one up. Normally I don’t love acquisitive companies as it can complicate the culture and the overall product/service offering. But that said, obviously they’re putting up solid numbers. And as you’ll see below, this does seems like a fierce arsenal with each acquisitions laser focused on the mission of giving CFO’s et al immense power to control all spending. This feels like an absolute powerhouse of high-tech cloud spending management. Hard to fathom how they get beat this area, assuming the acquisitions, their teams and software, are coalescing into a unified whole.

2013

COUPA ACQUIRES XPENSER

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/2013/coupa-a…

Coupa Software, the leading provider of cloud-based spend optimization solutions for finance, today announced that it has acquired Xpenser, a company that enables users to record and track expenses more efficiently in the cloud. The acquisition will expand Coupa’s domain expertise and leadership in the area of expense management. The announcement was made at the Coupa INSPIRE Conference in San Francisco this week.


2015

COUPA ACQUIRES ZEN PURCHASE

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/zenpurchase…

Coupa Software, the leading provider of cloud-based spend management solutions, today announced the acquisition of San Francisco-based ZenPurchase, a collaborative enterprise procurement software company. The acquisition of ZenPurchase furthers Coupa’s mission to deliver savings-as-a-service through increased efficiencies, which drives business impact.

ZenPurchase’s cloud-based purchasing platform uses unique team collaboration technologies to modernize procurement departments and accelerate the RFP process. Designed to help Fortune 1000 customers simplify the painful procurement process, ZenPurchase’s platform delivers simplicity and speed, compared to legacy solutions. By focusing on straightforward design, ZenPurchase facilitates higher visibility and engagement in the RFP process as well as faster onboarding than suppliers get with traditional solutions.

COUPA ACQUIRES TRIPSCANNER

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-acquir…

With this acquisition, Coupa expands its industry-leading Expense Management solution and simplifies business travel management by bringing greater freedom to travel booking.


COUPA ACQUIRES INVOICE SMASH

https://www.networkworld.com/article/2944037/coupa-acquires-…

Coupa and its competitors are trying to achieve two objectives that are somewhat counter-intuitive. On the one hand, they’re trying to ease the not-insignificant lag that exists within invoicing and payment processes. Essentially, Coupa is trying to help organizations acquire the resources they need as quickly as possible and then pay for those resources efficiently. On the other hand, however, organizations increasingly work in an environment where regulatory compliance is critical, therefore Coupa and its ilk need to ensure that the processes they automate cover the requirements of regulations.

Coupa is building out its solution, and to help it with that task it is today announcing that it is acquiring InvoiceSmash, an Australian vendor involved with accounts payable and e-invoicing. The key functionality that InvoiceSmash brings to Coupa is its so-called closed-loop learning capabilities. What this means is that, once applied to the Coupa offering, InvoiceSmash will instantly convert emailed invoices from suppliers into the digital format required for the buyer’s accounts payable process. Think of it as a modern take on EDI and you’ve pretty much got the picture.


2016

COUPA ACQUIRES CONTRACTUALLY

https://www.zdnet.com/article/coupa-buys-contract-management…

Contractually makes cloud software for managing contract authoring and signature processes.
Contractually’s pitch is that, while contracts remain a fixture in business-to-business transactions, the tools for writing and signing them via the Internet are cumbersome and outdated.

For instance, it’s not uncommon for contracts to be authored in one application, then emailed between parties for review and editing, signed in another application, and returned via email for final human processing.

Coupa said it plans to use Contractually to combine all of those steps into one application built on its supplier collaboration platform Coupa Open Business Network.


2017

COUPA ACQUIRES SPEND360

https://spendmatters.com/2017/01/10/coupa-acquires-spend360-…

Coupa announced early Tuesday it had acquired Spend360 International Ltd., a best-in-class spend classification vendor. Coupa “has acquired substantially all of the assets of Spend360 International Ltd. to help companies digitize antiquated processes for data classification,” the company said in the acquisition announcement.


COUPA ACQUIRES TRADE EXTENSIONS

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-acquir…

SAN MATEO, CA – May 10, 2017 – Coupa Software (NASDAQ:COUP), a leader in cloud-based spend management, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Trade Extensions TradeExt AB to make it easier for organizations to reduce supply chain risk, increase profit margins, and achieve operational compliance.

Trade Extensions offers a strategic sourcing and advanced optimization platform used by many of the world’s largest brands to run sourcing projects for the most complex categories - such as transportation and logistics, production planning, and supply chain design.


COUPA ACQUIRES RISKOPY

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/05/17/987179…

The acquisition helps Coupa aggregate Coupa platform and 3rd party supplier risk data into a profile score. This profile score, Coupa transactional data, and other Coupa network data is then incorporated in Coupa’s community intelligence innovation.
Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Riskopy’s analytics engine combines conventional and alternative data sources in a proprietary algorithm.

“When we created Riskopy, we set out to collect near real-time supplier data to identify risk and uncover new opportunities in the world of business finance,” said Ahmad Sadeddin, founder of Riskopy. “We’re thrilled to be a part of the team creating next generation supplier risk solutions.”


COUPA ACQUIRES DEEP RELEVANCE

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-acquir…

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 17, 2017 —

Deep Relevance uses Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based behavior and relationship analytics to help identify individual employee and collusive fraud or other suspicious transactions.


COUPA ACQUIRES SIMENO

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-acquir…

Simeno creates localized content from third-party supplier sites to power cross-catalog searches, including content from many of the leading B2B marketplaces. Coupa plans to grow its Open Buy Program with the addition of the marketplaces to deliver a best-in-class cross-catalog search capability that is competitively distinguished. The acquisition also increases Coupa’s local presence in key German and Swiss markets.

“One of the emerging trends within procurement technology is the ability to bring more spend under management by integrating ‘out-of-catalog’ purchases, while maintaining control of an organization’s approval workflows and business rules. Coupa is leading the charge in this area, first integrating Amazon Business in a unique way compared to competitors, and now integrating Simeno’s cross-marketplace search capabilities into its platform,” said Xavier Olivera, lead procure-to-pay analyst at Spend Matters. “Customers will benefit through improved search experiences and a marketplace-driven approach to shopping that maintains procurement controls.”


2018

COUPA ACQUIRES DCR WORKFORCE

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-acquir…

DCR Workforce produces contingent workforce management and services procurement software, which Coupa plans to integrate into its own offerings as Coupa Contingent Workforce. This will enable users to approve service projects and release work orders, track time, expenses and signing off on deliverables, and complete invoicing, payments and spend management on temporary labor and projects.


COUPA ACQUIRES ACQUIIRE

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/10/15/162125…

Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP), a leader in business spend management (BSM), announced today that it has acquired Aquiire, the leader in real-time supplier catalog search. With 13 patents pending or issued, Aquiire extends Coupa’s capability to deliver a comprehensive business-to-business (B2B) shopping experience spanning real-time, cached, and localized catalog search.
Today, without real-time search capability, employees often waste precious time and productivity navigating catalogs across many different supplier websites to find the products they need. With Aquiire’s patented technology part of the Coupa BSM Platform, employees can get all the information they need across suppliers in real-time with one instant search. This instant search allows for real-time competitive shopping, which can lower price as well as improve overall employee productivity.


COUPA ACQUIRES HIPEROS

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-acquir…

SAN MATEO, Calif. – December 10, 2018 – Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP), a leader in business spend management (BSM), announced today that it acquired Hiperos, a leading third-party risk management provider and division of Opus. The acquisition enables businesses with the advanced technology they need to extensively evaluate the risk of their full supplier base to further protect their brand and bottom line.

“Third-party risk and compliance is a growing threat as global supply chains expand, regulatory requirements grow, and cyber crimes increase, and until now, businesses have relied on point solutions to manage these risks,” said Rob Bernshteyn, chief executive officer at Coupa. “As an integral part of the Coupa BSM Platform, Hiperos’s advanced third-party risk management offering enables enterprises to extensively evaluate the risk of their supplier base and shift spend to optimal suppliers. I am excited to welcome the Hiperos team to Coupa and look forward to furthering our mission to empower businesses to spend smarter.”


2019

COUPA ACQUIRES EXARI SYSTEMS

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-comple…

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 7, 2019 – Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP), a leader in business spend management (BSM), announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Exari, a leading provider of contract lifecycle management (CLM). The acquisition extends the Coupa Contract Management solution with advanced CLM capabilities, including functionality for contract creation, collaboration, and discovery, enabling companies to comprehensively manage the entire contract lifecycle and operationalize their contracts against spend transactions.

“Unifying Exari’s advanced CLM capabilities with the more than $1 trillion of rapidly growing transactional spend in the Coupa BSM Platform will enable us to deliver even more value to our customers across all aspects of business spend management,” said Rob Bernshteyn, chairman and chief executive officer at Coupa. “I am pleased to officially welcome the Exari team to Coupa, where together we will empower companies around the globe to be successful across their enterprise-wide contract management initiatives.”


2020

COUPA ACQUIRES YAPTA

https://www.coupa.com/newsworthy/press-releases/coupa-acquir…

SAN MATEO, California, January 7, 2020 – Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP), a leader in Business Spend Management (BSM), announced today that it has acquired travel price optimization leader Yapta. The acquisition enables Coupa to deliver more value across BSM by empowering companies to achieve greater savings in a significant spend category, Travel & Expense (T&E).

Based in Seattle and led by travel industry veterans, Yapta monitors airfare and hotel prices in real time and sends instant savings alerts when prices drop. Working with thousands of customers, including more than 100 of the Fortune 500, Yapta has helped companies save an average of 2-4% of their corporate travel budgets, resulting in more than $350 million of savings to date…

“Business travel, which accounts for more than $1 trillion of spend per year1, is often one of the spend areas within a business with the least visibility and control,” said Rob Bernshteyn, chairman and CEO of Coupa. “Yapta offers greater transparency into travel spend, helping businesses get the most value from their travel planning. I am excited to welcome the Yapta team to Coupa and look forward to furthering our joint mission of empowering businesses with the visibility and control they need to spend smarter.”

Wishing you all very happy, healthy, peaceful Passover and Easter.

Salud,

Broadway Dantonio

51 Likes

Hi Dan - that’s interesting. I’m suspicious of this and whilst I am currently out of Coupa I would consider re-entering if i can understand that the historical and current revenue growth hasn’t been artificially elevated by acquisitions on a regular YoY basis. It became very obvious with Twilio and with MDB that when increasingly sized acquisitions went passed the 12 months YoY comparison then organic and total growth dropped dramatically.

Not sure where that leaves us with Coupa. I’m all for building capability (up to a point and not at any price - I still remember ARM trying to swallow Artisan for $1bn which set it back for 5 years), but this is a lot of acquisitions.

Ant

6 Likes

Hey Ant - I get the feeling these are almost entirely about the technology and smaller teams of experts that built the companies. Few if any of these deals even reported any numbers. And all are so focused on contributing to mission of managing spending w elite technology, precision that it seems even if growth was bought, that same growth should continue as CEO claims this is 50B market, which they should be top dog in. Hopefully they are done building foundation and ready to focus soleLy on growth. Funny that CEO has been on Mad Money twice and Cramer never asks (if my memory is correct) about challenges of integrating 15 acquisitions. Anyway worth keeping an eye on.

5 Likes

I went through Coupas acquisition a while back on this board and found that none of the companies had overlapping technologies and or duplicates of one another. These were all small companies with very specific, niche products. One company had a search technology for example as their main product line. Another company had a consulting business division that was sold to another company not long afterward. If the goal was to raise revenue with these companies it wouldn’t make sense to sell off part of the companies would it?

Last but not least, the company has alreaady indicated these companies they acquired are only adding a few percentage points of revenue. One could end their worries/concerns with that comment alone and move on.

I came to the conclusion , like BroadwayDan, these acquisitions were for the goal of technology/talent acquisition for the aim of making COUP a stronger company.

8 Likes

My bad 12X - i should have searched board first.Would have saved me a lot of time. And again I agree - these look like legit smart moves that do not affect faith in organic growth.