Wednesday 25th July, 2012  

Coupa Software, the fastest growing provider of spend optimisation software, has announced that Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment and advisory firms, has selected Coupa as its spend management solution and has made a limited investment in the company. Some of the Blackstone portfolio companies already use Coupa, and the Coupa-Blackstone relationship will now be rolled out across other portfolio companies in coming months.

Blackstone was looking for a way to streamline spend and opted for what it saw as a best-in-class solution in Coupa Software. Their ability to quickly deploy its cloud-based solution and show immediate results was a key deciding factor in the deal. With 200 active Blackstone users currently on the platform, the company anticipates full integration with its more than 1,600 employees to drive collective spend intelligence across the organisation.

Blackstone’s core private equity competency is investing in leading, global businesses positioned for growth and profitability. With a portfolio of more than 70 companies and $125 billion in annual revenue, Blackstone will offer the Coupa platform to its portfolio companies to help them quickly get their spend under control and improve operating efficiency.

"The thing is" said Matt Skurbe, treasurer and managing director for Blackstone. “Coupa is easy for everyone to use and makes it simple to drive savings that benefit the bottom line."

Rob Bernshteyn, CEO of Coupa added “We’re thrilled with the addition of Blackstone to our growing marquee of top-tier companies and investors. Blackstone and Coupa share a strong partnership culture and unwavering commitment on creating value. Together, we’re focused on bottom-line results, and we anticipate huge continued success.” 

The partnership goes one level deeper as  Blackstone recognised Coupa’s innovation, market leadership role and long-term growth viability by becoming a minority investor in Coupa’s recently announced Series E round of funding.