- Thoma Bravo has acquired business spend management software company Coupa for $8 billion.
- The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2023.
- The acquisition follows rumors that Vista Equity Partners had planned to acquire Coupa earlier this year.
Private equity firm Thoma Bravo announced this week it is scooping up business spend management software company Coupa for a total of $8 billion. The all-cash transaction will make Coupa a privately held company and is expected to close in the first half of next year.
Coupa was founded in 2006 to offer businesses spend management solutions that help them view and control their indirect spending. Some of the company’s business spend management tools include e-invoicing, travel and expense management, spend analysis, treasury management, and more. Coupa went public in 2016 and has a current market capitalization of $5.98 billion.
“For more than a decade, we’ve been building an incredible Business Spend Management Community and have proudly cemented our position as the market-leading platform in our category. We’re looking forward to partnering with Thoma Bravo and accelerating our vision to digitally transform the Office of the CFO,” said Coupa Chairman and CEO Rob Bernshteyn. “While our ownership may change, our values do not. Every one of us at Coupa will continue to put our customers at the center of everything we do and help them maximize the value of every dollar they spend.”
Today’s report follows last month’s rumors that Texas-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners planned to purchase Coupa. Vista Equity Partners is not only a well-known investor in the fintech space, it has also made a handful of large acquisitions in the fintech space in the past few years, having acquired tax compliance firm Avalara earlier this year and cloud identity solutions provider Ping Identity in 2016.
Interestingly enough, Thoma Bravo acquired Ping Identity earlier this year for $2.8 billion after Vista Equity Partners exited its investment in the company. Thoma Bravo takes a buy-and-build approach in which it acquires similar companies and consolidates them to create synergies and develop companies with greater scale, scope, and broader service offerings. Among Thoma Bravo’s other investments in the fintech space are Bottomline Technologies, Digital Insight, SailPoint, Ellie Mae, and Kofax.
Regarding the company’s Coupa purchase, Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Holden Spaht said, “Coupa has created and led the large and growing Business Spend Management category. We’ve followed the company’s success for many years and have been impressed by its consistent track record of delivering high levels of value for its global customer base. We look forward to partnering with Rob and the rest of the management team to keep investing in the company’s product strategy while driving growth both organically and through M&A.”