May 14 (SeeNews) - Romanian robotic process automation (RPA) startup UiPath said on Monday it has acquired a platform from Cluj-based smart data company Recognos and will open a new office to develop it.
"The decision to create a new RPA development hub in Cluj was prompted by the acquisition of the Smart Data Platform technology from Recognos, the well-established Cluj-based software company founded more than 18 years ago," UiPath said in a press release.
The use of the Smart Data Platform within UiPath RPA Platform will allow for a simpler and faster information extraction from unstructured data sources, the company said.
"UiPath’s Cluj office is the latest addition to our expanding global operation, and it made perfect sense to open our second Romanian office here as we will tap into an impressive IT talent pool. As our fourth product development hub, the smart minds of Cluj will work in a truly global team alongside our developers in Bucharest, Bellevue - US, and Bengaluru - India," UiPath CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Dines said.
The Cluj office will be built around a team of people that contributed to the development of the Recognos Smart Data platform, and will be led by Andrei Roth, former manager of the local Recognos office.
Roth said he has has ambitious hiring plans for the next months and has already begun searching for Cluj-based senior .NET developers as well as RPA developers. The future Cluj-based UiPath .NET team will develop core activities for the UiPath Platform, while the RPA developers in the Cluj office will focus on supporting UiPath’s implementations and partners in the German-speaking countries.
"I believe that the talented resources of Cluj fully deserve the exciting and envelope-pushing work environment and company culture that UiPath offers. RPA is reinventing the very concept of work, and UiPath is a visionary company at the forefront of this global phenomenon," Andrei Roth said.
In March, UiPath has obtained a $153 million (124 million euro) Series B investment led by venture capital firm Accel Partners, boosting its market value to over $1.1 billion and thus becoming the first Romanian unicorn company.
'Unicorn' is a popular term used when a startup company is valued at over $1 billion.
In April last year, UiPath obtained another $30 million Series A funding from Accel, which it has used to accelerate its global expansion and product development.
UIPath is a US-based company founded in Romania, with additional offices in the UK, India, Singapore and Japan. The company has 200 global customers, such as Cognizant, Deloitte, KPMG, PWC, and TCS. Currently, the company employs 700 in 14 countries and plans to increase employee headcount by more than 40% until the end of August.
The Recognos group of companies develops complex systems and products mainly for the financial industry.
($=0.8348 euro)