UiPath raises USD 153 mln, becomes Romania's first "tech unicorn"

UiPath, an enterprise robotic process automation (RPA) software company founded in Bucharest by Romanian entrepreneurs Daniel Dines (pictured) and Marius Tirca, has raised USD 153 million in a new funding series, following a year of record growth. This is more than the sum circulated by previous media reports, and five times last year’s USD 30 million Series A financing. It also makes UiPath the first Romania-founded “tech unicorn” as the company is valued at USD 1.1 billion. UiPath was founded in Romania but is now headquartered in New York. The USD 153 million Series B came from previous investor Accel, which led the round, and new investors CapitalG and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. UiPath seed investors Earlybird’s Digital East Fund, Credo Ventures, and Seedcamp also participated significantly in the round. The funding will be used to “accelerate the company’s product roadmap, particularly innovations that integrate machine learning (ML) and AI algorithms within customers’ digital business operations,” UiPath said. UiPath specializes in developing virtual robots (digital workers) based on artificial intelligence that carry out repetitive tasks in various business sectors. At the same time, UiPath plans to continue the expansion of its global operations with new offices in Amsterdam, Houston, Munich, Paris, Seoul and Washington D.C. this quarter. The company is also looking at a Nasdaq listing within two - three years, local media reported. Throughout 2017, UiPath’s enterprise customer base grew from less than 100 customers to more than 700, resulting in an eight times growth in annual recurring revenue. New customers include BMW Group, Dairy Farm Group, Dentsu Inc., Huawei, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. The company now employs more than 590 people in 14 countries. It also has a network of more than 120,000 RPA developers worldwide. “With the substantial commitment today by Accel, CapitalG and Kleiner Perkins, we are deepening our resolve to accelerate the delivery of AI through the UiPath platform, helping organizations and workers quickly become more sophisticated in everything they do,” Daniel Dines, co-founder and CEO for UiPath, said. CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) is the venture capital fund financed by Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) is a Sillicon-Valley based venture capital firm that backed ventures such as Amazon.com, Electronic Arts, Google, Sun Microsystems or Twitter. Cyber security solutions provider Bitdefender has been the most valuable Romanian IT company so far. At the end of last year, it announced a USD 600 million valuation. editor@romania-insider.com