Coupa Software Acquires TripScanner

Spending-management platform Coupa Software acquired travel-technology startup TripScanner on Monday for an undisclosed sum.

TripScanner, based in Brooklyn, New York, bridges the gap between employees’ travel booking habits and corporate business policies. Led by CEO Ethan Laub, TripScanner automatically reviews travel itineraries, helping ensure compliance with company travel policies, and auto-creates line items in employee expense reports. The TripScanner team will join Coupa as part of the acquisition.

Headed up by CEO Rob Bernshteyn, the San Mateo-based Coupa was founded in 2006 to build a cloud-based suite of financial applications that provide spending management solutions to companies.

“Travel preferences and booking options are a personal experience for most people. Many employees traveling on business today want to maintain the same autonomy they have when booking personal travel,” Bernshteyn said in a press release. “Our goal with this acquisition is to drive greater compliance and deliver on our mission of savings-as-a-service for our customers, all while delighting their employees. This acquisition is another step towards that goal.”

Coupa is one of the latest Silicon Valley companies to join the unicorn club after it raised an $80-million investment round in early July. The company has raised more than $165 million to date and is valued at more than than $1 billion. Its investors include Blue Run Ventures, Battery Ventures, El Dorado Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Crosslink Capital.

The company also acquired InvoiceSmash, a cloud-based accounts payable and e-invoicing platform, at the same time as the $80 million investment.

Unmanaged travel makes up a large portion of the business travel sector and the TripScanner acquisition is a natural move for Coupa’s expense management solutions. Also known as “open travel” or “open booking,” unmanaged travel is the concept of allowing business travelers to independently manage their own travel without having to go through a travel management company or associated travel management website.

Business travel will hit $1.2 trillion globally in 2014, according to the Global Business Travel Association. Unmanaged travel accounts for nearly 25 percent of online booking in the U.S., which adds up to about $36 billion according to an article published June 2015 in Business Travel News.

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