Coupa Software Inc., a publicly traded provider of software for managing business spending, has agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $8 billion.

The all-cash deal was announced this morning. It includes a significant minority investment from a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The $8 billion that Thoma Bravo is offering for Coupa amounts to $81 per share, a 77% premium to the last closing price of the company’s stock before reports of the acquisition first emerged. 

Thoma Bravo is reportedly not the only investment firm that expressed interest in buying Coupa ahead of today’s announcement. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Vista Equity Partners also sought to buy Coupa at one point. Like Thoma Bravo, Vista Equity Partners is a private equity firm primarily known for its investments in the enterprise technology market. 

“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,” said Coupa Chief Executive Officer Rob Bernshteyn (pictured). “We’re looking forward to partnering with Thoma Bravo and accelerating our vision to digitally transform the Office of the CFO.”

San Mateo, California-based Coupa launched in 2006 and went public a decade later. It provides a platform that companies use to purchase merchandise from suppliers and manage other business expenses. Coupa’s platform also helps with related tasks, such as booking business trips for employees. 

Procurement teams can use Coupa’s platform to manage merchandise and equipment purchases. The platform automatically highlights the suppliers best equipped to meet a company’s requirements. Additionally, Coupa can point out the specific products that procurement professionals should buy to optimize costs.

Another major focus area for Coupa is business trip management. The company’s platform offers a portal through which workers can book flight tickets, accommodation and ground transportation. Accounting teams, in turn, have access to dashboards that track travel-related spending in a centralized interface. 

Coupa provides several automation features as part of its platform to ease users’ day-to-day work. A built-in artificial intelligence tool automatically points out cost-saving opportunities for a company’s accounting team. Additionally, users can create workflows that can perform certain repetitive tasks without the need for manual input.

The company today also reported its third-quarter earnings. Revenue rose 17% from a year ago, to $217.3 million. Subscription revenue rose 20%, to $198.4 million. Operating income before certain items such as stock compensation fell to $16.5 million from $27.9 million a year ago. Coupa isn’t doing an earnings call with more detail, and it has withdrawn its fiscal 2023 projections.

“Coupa has created and led the large and growing Business Spend Management category,” said Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Holden Spaht. “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.”

The announcement of the deal comes a few weeks after reports emerged that Coupa had received takeover interest. In a public letter issued last Monday, major Coupa shareholder HMI Capital Management expressed concerns about the prospect of a sale. The firm, which has a 4.8% stake in the company, stated that “we would oppose a transaction that undervalues Coupa – and we believe other shareholders would as well.”

Pending shareholder and regulatory approvals, Thoma Bravo expects to complete the acquisition of Coupa in the second half of 2023. 

Photo: SiliconANGLE