Robotic process automation company UiPath raises $568 million at $7 billion valuation
UiPath, a “robotic process automation” (RPA) platform that helps companies automate repetitive software-based tasks, has raised $568 million in a series D round of funding led by hedge fund Coatue Management, with participation from Alphabet’s CapitalG, Sequoia, Accel, Madrona Venture Group, IVP, Dragoneer, Wellington, Sands Capital, and funds advised by T. Rowe Price & Associates.
This takes UiPath’s total funding to more than $1 billion since inception, following last year’s $153 million and $225 million series B and C rounds, which came just 6 months apart. The company also now claims a valuation of $7 billion — up from $3 billion at its series C valuation just seven months ago.
Founded out of Bucharest, Romania in 2005, UiPath began as a software outsourcing startup called Deskover that built automation libraries and SDKs for major companies, including Microsoft and Google. In 2015, Deskover changed its name to UiPath and doubled down on its efforts in the RPA realm. It moved its headquarters to New York City in 2017, though its main development hub remains in the Romanian capital.
As with similar platforms, UiPath’s core selling point is that it brings automation to enterprise processes through “intelligent software robots” that help businesses carry out laborious, repetitive tasks using computer vision and rule-based processes. The technology is installed on top of business applications, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software or customer relationship management (CRM) tools, to learn from human actions and emulate these tasks.
Through UiPath Studio, companies can design automation processes visually through diagrams, with the UiPath robot executing these processes. The UiPath Orchestrator is where companies can deploy and manage all the robots and processes.
RPA technology is hot — some estimates peg the industry at $2.3 billion today, and it is expected to grow to more than $4 billion by 2022.
“We are at the tipping point — business leaders everywhere are augmenting their workforces with software robots, rapidly accelerating the digital transformation of their entire business and freeing employees to spend time on more impactful work,” said UiPath cofounder and CEO Daniel Dines.
