UPDATED 09:43 EDT / SEPTEMBER 18 2018

BIG DATA

As robotic process automation market turns white-hot, UiPath bags $225M at $3B valuation

The red-hot robotic process automation market hit another milestone today as six-year-old startup UiPath Inc. said it has closed a late-stage funding round of $225 million, giving the company a valuation of $3 billion.

The Series C round was led by Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG venture arm and included new investor Sequoia Capital Operations LLC as well as existing investor Accel Partners LP.

The New York-based company is a leader in a rapidly growing category of artificial intelligence called robotic process automation. It uses software robots to observe workflows in common business applications and then deduces ways to automate repetitive tasks. Customers include Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Thomson Reuters Corp., General Electric Co., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Equifax Inc.

UiPath has been on an epic growth curve that recently saw its annual recurring revenue pass $100 million, up from $1 million just 21 months earlier, according to the company. It claims more than 1,800 customers and said new customers are coming on board at the rate of six per day. It expects annual recurring revenues to increase more than fourfold this year from 2017, while its workforce is expected to triple, to 1,700 employees.

The “UI” in the company’s name refers to the robotic process of observing human interactions with information systems. The software literally monitors users’ individual keystrokes as they interact with such applications as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management, identifies repetitive patterns and suggests ways to automate them. While eliminating a few keystrokes may seem trivial in the short term, the savings can be enormous when applied to hundreds or thousands of users. Automation also reduces errors and improves speed.

The company said its technology is being used by one unnamed Florida bank to process complex transactions across multiple systems and speed up the delivery of home loans in the aftermath of 2017’s Hurricane Irma. A European hospital reportedly used automation to cut claims processing costs by 75 percent. Consulting firm Alsbridge Inc. has estimated that  robots can replace between five and 10 human claims processors for as little as $10,000 per year.

Analyst firm Wikibon, a sister company of SiliconANGLE, evaluated UiPath’s technology last spring and concluded that the company “holds a distinct advantage in the burgeoning RPA market because it employs a freemium go-to-market approach that encourages organic adoption of game-changing developer tools.”

The company said part of its mission is to “democratize” RPA. To that end, if offers free training programs, a no-cost community edition and free online forums. It counts more than 120,000 developers.

By most accounts, the RPA market is experiencing hypergrowth. Grand View Research Inc. expects compound annual growth to top 60 percent over the next six years, while P&S Market Research Private Ltd. forecasts the market to reach $8.6 billion in 2023. That has drawn the attention of investors, who are pouring money into startups. In July, competitor Automation Anywhere Inc. closed a $250 million in funding on a $1.8 billion valuation.

UiPath has raked in its fair share as well. The company closed a $153 million funding round just six months ago and has raised more than $400 million in total. The company plans to use the new funds to speed product development ambitions, expand its partner ecosystem and invest in mergers and acquisitions.

Image: Pixabay

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