Coupa Software, a publicly traded company that helps businesses track their spending, has acquired Seattle corporate travel pricing startup Yapta.
Yapta’s technology tracks ever-changing costs for airline and hotel reservations and instantly re-books when prices drop, without impacting the traveler’s experience. Yapta says its customers typically save 2 to 4 percent on travel costs, and the startup has generated more than $350 million in total savings, according to a press release on the deal.
The company raised more than $25 million in funding, with Seattle’s Voyager Capital playing an active role as a lead investor.
Yapta was originally founded with consumers in mind in 2007. But by 2012, around the time CEO James Filsinger came onboard, it decided to pivot toward corporate travelers.
The acquisition of Yapta gives Coupa greater visibility into corporate travel costs, a large line item for many companies.
“Business travel, which accounts for more than $1 trillion of spend per year, is often one of the spend areas within a business with the least visibility and control,” Coupa CEO Rob Bernshteyn said in a statement. “Yapta offers greater transparency into travel spend, helping businesses get the most value from their travel planning.”
Yapta is No. 91 on the GeekWire 200 ranking of the Pacific Northwest’s top startups, and it has approximately 90 employees. Yapta’s customers include Shell Oil, the NBA and the Ford Foundation.
