April 27 (SeeNews) - Romanian robotic process automation startup UiPath said on Thursday it has obtained a $30 million (27.5 million euro) Series A investment from venture capital firm Accel Partners.
The Series A funding also includes a $1.6 million seed round UiPath raised last year from previous investors -Earlybird, Credo Ventures and Seedcamp.
The funding will be used to accelerate the company’s rapid global expansion and product development, building on its six times growth in 2016, UiPath said in a release published on its website.
Following the investment, UiPath will boost hiring in order to keep up with rocketing demand for its products in North America, Western Europe, India, Japan and South East Asia. The funding will also support continued investment in product development and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, especially around its core computer vision technology. Additionally, UiPath said it plans to focus on cognitive capabilities enabling organizations to handle the vast amounts of structured and unstructured data required to deliver truly intelligent automation.
“This investment will allow us to introduce the benefits of intelligent RPA to even more businesses around the world and remain at the forefront of a rapidly-advancing industry,” CEO and founder of UiPath Daniel Dines said. “We are making work more inspiring and effective for the people that drive our businesses and economies forward, and the potential that remains untapped for organizations is what makes this such an exciting market to work in.”
This investment comes on the back of increasing funding activity for artificial intelligence startups, as 2016 saw a record of $5 billion venture capital funds flowing into AI companies worldwide, an increase of 60% compared to 2015, the press release showed.
“UiPath is the backbone for the intelligent enterprise,” Accel partner Luciana Lixandru said. “Daniel’s clear and ambitious vision for the company has helped drive impressive traction in a short period of time. Many enterprises around the world are recognizing how its RPA software can make their business smarter, and yet UiPath has only scratched the surface.”
UIPath is a US-based company founded in Romania, with additional offices in the UK, India, Singapore and Japan. The company has 200 global customers, 75% of which register revenues exceeding $10 billion, and over 150 partners across the globe. UiPath is a leading RPA vendor providing a complete software platform to help organizations efficiently automate business processes. Currently, the company employs 150.
Accel is an early- and growth-stage venture capital firm founded in 1983, which has backed a number of iconic global platforms including Atlassian, Avito, BlaBlaCar, Deliveroo, Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, Funding Circle, Kayak, QlikTech, Simplivity, Slack, Spotify, Supercell, WorldRemit and others.
($=0.9178 euro)