Robotic Process Automation Tech Firm UiPath Notches $225M

As it looks to develop its hyperautomation technology, robotic process automation (RPA) company UiPath has notched $225 million in an Alkeon Capital Management-led Series E investment round at a $10.2 billion post-money valuation. Sequoia Capital, Coatue and Accel were among the other firms participating in the round, per an announcement.

UiPath Co-founder and CEO Daniel Dines said in the announcement, “COVID-19 has heightened the critical need of automation to address challenges and create value in days and weeks, not months and years. We are committed to working harder to help our customers evolve, transform and succeed fast in the new normal.”

UiPath said it would harness the funding to expand upon its research and development (R&D) investment. The company is geared toward speeding up automation adoption and increasing its availability to assist customers in providing a better experience to their clients. The aim is for workers around the world to be able to tap into software robots and receive “optimal value” from them.

Alkeon General Partner Abhi Arun said in the announcement, “Automation, similar to cloud computing, has become a strategic imperative that is fundamentally changing the way organizations operate. UiPath’s leading-edge, mission-critical product combines scalable software with an intuitive user interface, enabling companies globally to accelerate their digital transformation efforts.”

Technologies such as RPA and optical character recognition (OCR) are finding new functions in back offices because of COVID-19. These technologies aren’t only essential to decreasing friction, Venu Kannan, global vice president of UiPath’s domain and applications practice, told PYMNTS in a previous interview. He noted that they are also key to speeding up cash flows and maintaining business continuity when disruption has become the new normal.

Interest in OCR and RPA has been on the uptick in recent years in the corporate back office, especially in financial workflows such as invoice processing in accounts payable (AP) departments. One of the most valuable use cases for putting these tools into place is enabling firms to automatically process invoices for payment without requiring suppliers to modify their invoicing habits.