Coupa Software Inc., a provider of cloud-based software designed to help companies manage their spending, is diving further into related supply chain technology with the acquisition of Llamasoft, whose technology helps companies like The Boeing Co., Nestlé and The Home Depot Inc. manage their supply chains.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented shift in what businesses are demanding to effectively manage their supply chains. They need instant visibility, agile planning capabilities, and timely risk mitigation support,” says Rob Bernshteyn, chairman and CEO at Coupa. Coupa says it expects to pay a final purchase price of “approximately $1.5 billion.”

“Llamasoft’s deep supply chain expertise and sophisticated data science and modeling capabilities, combined with the roughly $2 trillion of cumulative transactional spend data we have in Coupa, will empower businesses with the intelligence needed to pivot on a dime,” Bernshteyn says.

Dealing with market disruption

Mickey North Rizza, program vice president of enterprise applications and digital commerce at research and advisory firm IDC, says Coupa’s acquisition of Llamasoft blends spend management and AI-powered supply chain management at a time when companies need more assistance in managing supply chains during this year’s market disruptions. “Incorporating supply chain planning capabilities as part of a comprehensive business spend management strategy will give companies more visibility and control across their direct and indirect spend,” she says in a press release distributed by Coupa and Llamasoft.

In January, Llamasoft released its newest product, llama.ai, which it says was designed to provide “AI-powered decision making across the supply chain to support an almost unlimited number of use cases.” It adds that llama.ai enables companies to use supply chain algorithms in custom-built supply chain applications to run what-if scenarios and produce insights to help manage the flow of goods through supply chains.

Razat Gaurav, CEO of Llamasoft, says that bringing together the two companies’ technologies will “bring together digital transformation solutions that drive decision making and operational efficiency across the enterprise.”

Duncan Jones, a vice president and principal analyst covering procurement and supply chains at Forrester Research Inc., asserts that Coupa’s existing software suite of such applications as procurement, spend analysis, and sourcing management does not gain much value from the addition of supply chain planning software.

Still, Coupa’s acquisition of Llamasoft, he adds, is “good news for Llamasoft customers, because Coupa will accelerate development of the product,” adding: “If you’re considering buying a product like Llamasoft, I’d say you’re going to look more favorably on a product from a larger, visionary, energetic, customer-obsessed Coupa than from an independent competitor.”

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