AI-Powered UiPath Scores $568M At $7B Valuation

UiPath, a robotic process automation (RPA) software company, announced today it has closed on a sizeable $568 million Series D at a post-money valuation of $7 billion.

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Coatue led the round, which also included participation from a host of other investors including Dragoneer, Wellington, Sands Capital, and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Accel, CapitalG, Sequoia, IVP and Madrona Venture Group.

The Series D brings New York-based UiPath’s total raised since its $30 million Series A almost exactly two years ago to around $1 billion. (The company was founded in 2005 but didn’t raise its seed round until 2015, according to its Crunchbase profile.) UiPath also claims the round now makes it one of the world’s most valuable AI companies. It pointed out that China’s SenseTime was valued at $4.5 billion after closing a $620 million round last May.

In its own words, UiPath uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in an effort to “automate millions of repetitive, mind-numbing tasks for business and government organizations all over the world, improving productivity, customer experience and employee job satisfaction.”

The company has 400,000 users in 200 countries and is also refreshingly transparent about its financials, noting that it increased its annual recurring revenue (ARR) from $8 million in April 2017 to over $200 million now. Also, UiPath said it grew its headcount by 16 times over the past two years – to more than 2,500 employees today.

UiPath had just raised a Series C in November, when its ARR was $150 million. So why another raise so soon? The company, in its FAQs, said: “Our business growth has largely funded our operations. Looking forward, we still have aggressive plans that we believe can be best executed with additional funding, while ensuring our commitment to customer success during this unprecedented growth.” Specifically, UiPath plans to “deepen” its investments in workforce education, accelerate its R&D and strategic product roadmap and invest in “strategic M&A.”

UiPath co-founder and CEO Daniel Dines said in the company’s release that the industry is “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,” he added, noting that it’s his company’s vision to have “a robot helping every person.”

The company also hinted that an IPO might be in its future, saying: “We are practicing what it takes to be a public company today, including implementing public company caliber financial accounting, processes and controls and building the industry’s strongest management team that includes executives from HP, Microsoft, NetApp, Nutanix, and SAP.”

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias