Enterprise software producer SAP has agreed to buy a majority share of Taulia, a US-based provider of working capital management software that counts several corporates as investors.
Taulia has built a software tool designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises manage and optimise their available working capital as well as payables, receivables and inventory. It claims it processes more than $500bn per year.
Details of the price have not been disclosed. SAP had already been collaborating with Taulia and had integrated the company’s enterprise liquidity management software into its own offering.
Luka Mucic, chief financial officer (CFO) of SAP, said: “Taulia strengthens our portfolio and adds value to a point that is key to every company: financial flexibility and stability. With that, they contribute to making supply chains more resilient.
“By combining the deep working capital management expertise of Taulia with SAP’s broad CFO solution portfolio and the integration into our core business software and Business Network solutions, we are well-positioned to become a leader in working capital management.
“We will offer these capabilities at scale to help businesses improve their financial position and seize growth opportunities.”
Taulia chief executive Cédric Bru added: “I am delighted by our combination with SAP and its ecosystem to serve more businesses and contribute to SAP’s vision.
“Cash is the oxygen businesses need to breathe during challenging economic cycles and growth sprints. Coming together with SAP will help accelerate Taulia’s mission of helping businesses thrive by unlocking liquidity trapped in supply chains.”
Taulia will maintain its separate brand within the broader auspices of SAP Group, and while Bru will continue to serve as its CEO, Mucic will be chairman of its board of directors.
Insurance group Ping An’s Global Voyager Fund had led a $60m round for Taulia in mid-2020 at a reported $400m valuation, investing alongside Prosperity7 Ventures, on behalf of oil and gas supplier Saudi Aramco, in addition to investment banking firm JP Morgan and returning backers including Zouk Capital.
Zouk Capital had led the company’s $46m series E round four years earlier, participating together with all Taulia’s existing shareholders to lift its overall funding to $130m.
Taulia completed a $40m series D round in 2014 featuring BBVA Ventures – a vehicle for financial services group BBVA since spun off into venture capital firm Propel Venture Partners with BBVA backing – EDBI, Trinity Ventures, Matrix Partners, Lakestar, DAG Ventures and QuestMark Partners.
The company had raised $18m in series C funding the previous year from telecommunications group Telus, Trinity Ventures, Matrix Partners, Lakestar and DAG Ventures.
JP Morgan will retain a minority stake in Taulia once the deal closes and their existing strategic partnership will be unaffected by SAP’s acquisition of a majority stake. Léo Apotheker, former chief executive of SAP, is an independent director and holds shares in Taulia.
Bill.com, another financial management tool supplier that offers similar services to Taulia, agreed to buy Divvy, a payment processing software developer backed by peer PayPal, for $2.5bn in May 2021.
SAP had also purchased cloud-based enterprise collaboration network Ariba and Concur, which provides travel expenses management technology, in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
Image courtesy of Taulia Inc.
