Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Coupa, which Thoma Bravo took private in an $8 billion deal in 2023, is acquiring enterprise workflow automation startup Tonkean, CEO Leagh Turner tells Axios Pro exclusively.
Why it matters: The spend management software maker is using M&A to assemble an AI layer for the procurement stack.
Context: Tonkean is Coupa's second AI-focused acquisition announced in two weeks, following its deal for Rossum, which uses AI to process invoices and other business documents.
- Last year, Coupa acquired Cirtuo for AI-powered category management and Scoutbee for supplier discovery.
Zoom in: Terms were not disclosed.
- Tonkean last raised a $50 million Series B round led by Accel in 2021, at a $300 million post-money valuation.
- The company raised about $84 million in total funding, with other backers including Foundation Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Magma, SNR, and Slow Ventures.
How it works: Tonkean lets enterprise employees start procurement requests in plain language and routes the work through the appropriate approvals and systems.
- It connects to more than 250 other enterprise systems, letting workflows move across tools outside Coupa.
State of play: Turner says the deal accelerates Coupa's product roadmap by about 18 months.
- Tonkean's capabilities will appear in Coupa Compose immediately, while some Tonkean-powered offerings will continue to be sold alongside Coupa's existing products.
Between the lines: Coupa is betting that customers will want one company to stitch together procurement agents, workflows and data.
- "Our customers, absent us, become the integrator of their own agentic operating system," Turner says.
- That means managing different providers, teams, costs, integrations and upgrade cycles, she says.
Yes, but: Coupa is not saying procurement can run itself today.
- CFO Mike Agresta says most of the agents Coupa uses internally still keep humans in the loop for approvals and higher-risk decisions.
- Lower-risk tasks, such as moving contract dates between systems, can run without approval.
By the numbers: Coupa says it has 20 AI agents available today, up from 6 when it launched the effort in May 2025, and expects 65 to be available by January 2027.
What's next: Agresta says Coupa will continue looking at acquisitions that make procurement workflows more autonomous.
