Acquisition expands Sovos’ capabilities in Procure-to-Pay and B2B transaction automation on six continents, adding e-archiving and e-signature compliance
Sovos, a leading global provider of tax software, announced today that it will acquire Stockholm-based TrustWeaver, the leading provider of cloud software that helps businesses authenticate and centrally archive electronic documents for VAT audit purposes.
The announcement comes just weeks after the European Commission granted Italy permission to mandate electronic invoicing (e-invoicing), making it the first country in the European Union to do so. Italy’s move paves the way for rapid expansion of real-time, transaction level reporting in Europe.
The acquisition extends Sovos’ e-invoicing coverage to 60 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, building on its success in Latin America, where e-invoicing has been used successfully in recent years to close VAT collection gaps. It also adds support for “post-audit” compliance, including e-signatures in compliance with the eIDAS Regulation, an onerous set of standards for electronic trust and identification in Europe.
In recent years, governments on six continents have mandated electronic signature rules, including proof of authenticity and proof of origin, and required invoice archiving for audit purposes, where specific invoice details must be searchable for as many as 10 years. TrustWeaver has led the way in safeguarding businesses from the risks and burdens of these measures, automating compliance with those rules within the most common procure-to-pay (P2P), EDI, business network, ERP and supply chain systems.
“TrustWeaver has become a seal of approval for the world’s largest financial systems, which is a testament not only to the effectiveness of its software and integrations, but also to its ability to monitor and interpret regulatory change in the European region and beyond,” said Andy Hovancik, president and CEO of Sovos. “We’ve built Sovos to reduce the costly friction between businesses and governments around the world, and it was immediately obvious to us that TrustWeaver provides an important part of that solution.”
As digital tax enforcement spreads around the globe, businesses are faced with complex and fragmented requirements that slow critical financial processes, increase compliance costs and stretch financial systems beyond their capabilities. Until now, no software solution has addressed the whole global e-invoicing compliance market, but Sovos’ acquisition of TrustWeaver changes that, according to Christiaan van der Valk, president of TrustWeaver.
“Sovos has built exactly what our clients and partners have been looking for. We can now automate every compliance step in purchasing and billing processes from tax determination to electronic invoice compliance to tax reporting,“ van der Valk said. “By adding Sovos’
market-leading solution for clearance e-invoicing to ours, we create something truly unique. It’s a perfect fit, and we’re looking forward to expanding our solution and extending our global reach.”
Sovos, which announced its global tax automation platform, the Intelligent Compliance Cloud, last year, has been actively working to acquire the leading solutions for e-invoicing in every region. TrustWeaver, which has grown quickly as a result of technology-driven tax compliance by offering embedded compliance-as-a-service in more than 60 top financial systems, including SAP, IBM and Coupa, was a natural extension of that strategy, according to John Gledhill, vice president of corporate development for Sovos.
“As governments shift tax enforcement to the transaction level, our goal has been to create the first global solution for every form of transaction-level tax compliance, from SAF-T to real-time e-invoicing,” Gledhill said. “TrustWeaver is our fourth acquisition in line with that goal. It puts us in the unique position to help our clients solve this problem globally instead of locally, which has a very positive impact on the bottom line.”
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Sovos is owned by London-based Hg. Skadden provided legal counsel for Sovos. EY served as financial advisor to TrustWeaver, and Ramberg provided legal counsel.
About Sovos
Sovos is a leading global provider of software that safeguards businesses from the burden and risk of modern tax. As governments and businesses go digital, businesses face increased risks, costs and complexity. The Sovos Intelligent Compliance Cloud combines world-class regulatory analysis with a secure and reliable cloud software platform to create a global solution for tax determination, e-invoicing compliance and tax reporting. Sovos supports 4,500 customers, including half of the Fortune 500, and integrates with a wide variety of business applications. Headquartered in Boston, has offices throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Sovos is owned by London-based Hg. For more information visit www.sovos.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About TrustWeaver
TrustWeaver provides a comprehensive cloud-based compliance service for electronic invoicing and other legally critical documents for more than 55 countries. From a single technical interface and through its unique Compliance Map™ concept, more than 60 world-leading B2B integration brokerage vendors in TrustWeaver’s partner network automatically provide interoperable legal certainty to trading partners that use their solutions, regardless of changes in legislation. TrustWeaver’s unique blend of legal and technical components allows modern organisations to execute their ERP, workflow, archiving and B2B consolidation strategies with guaranteed adherence to the multiple national and sectoral laws governing such transactions, document retention and auditability. In business since 2001, TrustWeaver is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
