SAP is acquiring Taulia, a FinTech company that helps CFOs and suppliers to receive early payments on goods and services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the purchase price was less than $1 billion, SAP CEO Christian Klein told Reuters.
This is technology M&A deal number 122 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2022. See more than 1,000 technology M&A deals for 2022, 2021, and 2020 listed here.
SAP Buys Talia: Partners and Customers Gain Financing Options
Taulia offers early payment through supply chain finance, dynamic discounting and accounts receivable finance. More than 80 percent of Taulia's customer base runs an SAP ERP system, and the platform is particularly popular with corporate CFOs (chief financial officers) and their lieutenants. Taulia's capabilities have become increasingly important as businesses worldwide strive to smooth out supply chain issues and address cash flow issues triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the SAP partner and customer ecosystem, Taulia can empower:
- SAP customers to improve their liquidity through early payment options with predictable off-balance sheet funding.
- Funders, such as banks, to pursue investment opportunities in short-term financing of large credit-worthy businesses.
- Key partner ecosystem members, particularly SAP Fioneer, to play a key role in these offerings, the buyer said.
Taulia's key financial partners included J.P. Morgan, UniCredit and other high-profile banks, the seller noted.
Once the deal is completed, Taulia will become the core of SAP’s working capital management portfolio, the buyer said. Moreover, Taulia’s solutions will continue to be available as standalone options for non-SAP customers, the buyer indicated.
Taulia, based in San Francisco, had raised $60 million in strategic funding in July 2020. Investors included Ping An Global Voyager Fund, JPMorgan and Prosperity7 Ventures. J.P. Morgan will retain a minority stake in Taulia.
SAP Acquires Taulia: Executive Perspectives
In a prepared statement about the deal, SAP CFO Luka Mucic 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.”
Added Taulia CEO Cédric Bru:
“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.”
Concluded Stuart Roberts, global head of Trade & Working Capital, J.P. Morgan:
“This news is very exciting for both Taulia, our successful strategic alliance partner, and SAP as the new majority owner. With SAP, we expect the strategic alliance between J.P. Morgan and Taulia will unlock new opportunities for us to serve our clients, and to inject and redeploy liquidity to suppliers as the world continues to manage impacts from the pandemic on the global supply chain.”
SAP Financial Results
Separately, SAP said revenue rose 6 percent in Q4 of 2021 vs. 2020. Bright spots included SAP's cloud business, where revenue rose 28 percent. More traditional software licenses revenue fell 14 percent as businesses increasingly shifted their on-premises ERP (enterprise resource planning) software to SaaS subscription models.
