Coupa Closes the Loop with Acquisition of Spend360
A couple of weeks ago, Coupa Software, one of the leading supply management solution providers in our industry, announced that it had acquired Spend360 International Ltd, a London-based analytics solution provider that focuses on spend analysis. Terms of the deal were not announced, but we met with the executive team from the two companies to discuss the deal and you can read our full coverage here – but here’s a quick take:
Over the course of 2016, Coupa undertook a lengthy process to find the right spend analytics company to acquire. As part of its research, the Coupa team reviewed/vetted a number of different spend analysis and auto-classification providers, including piloting and active testing of the solutions to see how they handled different spend data sets. It was Coupa’s opinion that Spend360 stood well above the other companies due primarily to its advanced auto-classification capabilities. On our call, the Coupa team referenced Spend360’s smart-learning algorithm driven by machine learning as something that is very differentiated from the traditional rules-based engines in the market today.
From a product integration and roadmap perspective, Coupa plans to leverage Spend360’s auto-class capabilities as the engine behind Coupa’s current UI and data visualization tool. Coupa also plans to use Spend360’s engine to enhance the benchmarking program that it offers to its customers. Finally, Coupa does not expect the acquisition to have any impact on its current partnerships, including IBM-Emptoris.
Thomson Reuters Launches Global Trade Classification System
On January 18, Thomson Reuters, the global provider of third-party risk information and intelligence for business professionals, announced that it has launched ONESOURCE, a new global trade classification system. The system takes what can be a manual process and automates and integrates it with a company’s internal ERP or even Excel-based product classification systems. Key features include: batch classification and audit, alerting to regulatory changes affecting the import/export of goods/services, classification workflow that allows users to monitor it in realtime against KPIs, globally-accessible product databases, and easily accessible (digital) audit trails. The result is a process workflow that is more compatible with audits, regulations, and compliance efforts related to international trade.
WNS Holdings to Acquire Denali Sourcing Group
On January 10, WNS Holdings (NYSE: WNS), the parent company of Mumbai-based WNS Global Services, a business process management (BPM) outsourcing company, announced that it has entered into agreement to acquire Denali Sourcing Services for $400 million. Denali provides an array of upstream sourcing and procurement services, including spend analysis, sourcing, contract management, supplier management, category management, and value management. As a part of WNS, Denali will bring its upstream sourcing solutions to WNS’ downstream, procure-to-pay capabilities for an end-to-end, source-to-pay offering that it can cross sell to WNS and Denali clients, alike. The two have partnered on large procurement BPO deals with Denali managing the upstream and WNS managing teh downstream activities. One CPO we spoke to after the deal was announced stated that while the on-boarding process with this team was very difficult, once they reached a steady-state of operations, the CPO has been “pretty pleased with their overall performance.”
Trade Extensions Announces Financial Performance for 2016
On January 11, Trade Extensions, the Sweden-based provider of advanced sourcing solutions, announced financial performance metrics for 2016. Highlights for the year include:
- 17% growth in revenue compared to 2015
- 22% growth in the North American market in 2016 (45% of total revenue)
- Gaining 20 additional (new) clients since 2015
- 84% of its sales attributed to software, mostly repeatable subscription licences
Fueled by their 2016 successes, Trade Extensions has a few big plans for 2017 – notably, the launch of the Trade Extensions Strategic Sourcing (TESS) 6.0 in late April; TESS Apps, which will make TESS more accessible to enterprise users; the opening of its first permanent Asian office; and the appointment of a new regional sales manager in North America.
Epicor Acquires docSTAR for Undisclosed Sum
On January 4, Epicor Software Corporation, the Austin, Texas-based provider of business software solutions for manufacturing and retail companies, announced that it had acquired docSTAR, a New York-based provider of document management solutions, for an undisclosed sum. As a result of the deal, Epicor will retain docSTAR’s cloud-based document management and accounts payable (AP) solutions and integrate them within its own ERP solutions. The deal appears to be aimed at strengthening Epicor’s cloud strategy and efforts to improve customer experience via the cloud.
Source Intelligence Partners with SGS
Late last year, Source Intelligence, the California-based provider of supply chain intelligence, risk, and compliance information, announced that it has partnered with SGS, a Switzerland-based provider of inspection, testing, and verification services. The partnership aims to combine the best of both company’s offerings – Source Intelligence’s 24/7 supplier engagement capabilities with SGS’s testing, certification, inspection, and verification services, to aid organizations that are compelled to adhere to regulatory commitments, ethical sourcing behaviors, audits, and government compliance efforts.
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