UiPath, one of the leaders in the quickly growing robotic process automation (RPA), announced on 1st February 2021 that it has raised a $750 million funding in Series F round at a post-money valuation of $35 billion. This financing brings the New York-based company’s total raised to nearly $2 billion since inception. The funding was co-led by prevailing financiers Coatue, and Alkeon Capital along with several other investors that comprise IVP, Tiger Global, Altimeter Capital, Sequoia, and Dragoneer. While the funds and accounts are advised by T. Rowe Price Associates.
RPA that automates monotonous, repetitive chores traditionally performed by human workers is a big business now. It is estimated that RPA and other AI subfields created jobs for 40% of companies in 2019 and that a tenth of startups now employ more digital workers than human ones.
UiPath’s Growth
UiPath has grown its client base from 100 customers in 2017 to over 5,000, with more than 750,000 users. Now, UiPath says the solutions developed by its over 2,800-person workforce automate tasks for more than 65% of the Fortune 500 and eight of the Fortune 10, including GE, Virgin Media, Airbus, Google, Autodesk, NASA, HP, Fujifilm, McCormick, DHL, Swiss Re, McDonald’s, and Equifax.
“Automation has become a strategic imperative that is fundamentally changing the way organizations operate,” Alkeon Capital managing partner Abhi Arun said in a statement. “We are excited to co-lead this round of funding as well as continue to team up with the UiPath team during an important phase for the company.”
UiPath utilizes AI to map tasks to automation alternatives and tease out the most periodic patterns from the data, securely documenting metrics from whitelisted applications, encompassing steps and execution time. The company leverages technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate or altogether “end recurring tasks,” which will not only “unleash human potential” but will also enhance the client experience. This enables humans to concentrate their strength on more sophisticated jobs like formulating strategy.
With well-known customers like Fujifilm, Google, McDonald’s, Virgin Media, and Airbus in its kitty, UiPath is presently the fastest-growing RPA startup. Bloomberg has also reported that the company could be valued at more than $20 billion in its IPO, which might come as soon as the first half of 2021.
