Coupa Acquires Corporate Travel App Developer

Spend management company Coupa has acquired business travel app company ETA, according to reports.

The company is looking to add more travel tech to its profile, alongside its larger agreement to acquire Yapta, the rate assurance provider.

With the acquisition of ETA, Coupa now has the ability to do business travel booking like rival SAP Concur.

ETA CEO and Co-Founder Choon Hong Peck confirmed that the transaction had gone through. Peck and associates seemed to agree that it was futile to compete with larger companies in the travel field, although the company said it wanted to do more in the digital field. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, which decimated travel, ETA on its own worked through travel support and fulfillment for customers.

Donna Wilczek, Coupa’s vice president of project strategy innovation, said in an interview earlier this year prior to the pandemic, that the acquisition of Yapta may or may not end up foretelling a change in the company’s business model.

Wilczek said the company is “continually looking at companies and tech assets that can optimize the value,” and that travel was the focus of many facets of business such as procurement, invoicing, payment and expenses.

Wilczek also said the company isn’t necessarily trying to compete with travel management companies as it is mostly subscription based. Instead of looking to buy services companies that would fit under the TMC banner, Coupa is looking more toward broad lenders in various arenas.

It is unknown as of yet how Coupa will use ETA or whether it will build a desktop companion, price things differently or continue to use Travelport to run its app.

Evercore ISI analyst Peter Levine said Coupa’s actions as of late show its tenacity, as with its built-up $700 million in cash and equivalents, the company might be feeling emboldened to act while values are slipping due to the pandemic.