Robotic process automation (RPA) software company UiPath launched a successful IPO (initial public offering) on April 21, 2010. Here are 10 -- make that nearly 20 -- takeaways from the UiPath IPO, along with ChannelE2E's analysis of the RPA software company.
1. Valuation: UiPath was targeting an IPO valuation of roughly $28 billion. Investor interest was even stronger than expected. The company had a non-diluted market cap of about $29 billion at IPO. The opening day gains lifted that valuation to around $35.6 billion, SeekingAlpha reports.
2. Partner and Customer Conference: Separately, UiPath announced the dates and location for its UiPath Forward 2021 conference.
3. New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading symbol: PATH
4. UiPath Mission: To "Unlock human creativity and ingenuity by enabling the "fully automated enterprise" and empowering workers through automation."
5. Previous Funding: The IPO-related filing comes after UiPath raised $750 million in Series F funding in February 2021, and achieved a post-money valuation of $35 billion. That round round was co-led by existing investors Alkeon Capital and Coatue. Other returning investors include Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, IVP, Sequoia, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price Associates.
6. Target Market: Intelligent Process Automation, which will be a $30 billion market by 2024, according to International Data Corporation (IDC), up from $17 billion in 2020. That a 16% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). UiPath believes the opportunity is even larger.
7. RPA Software Segment Explained: RPA software allows businesses to write code and bots that rapidly automate manual tasks across multiple departments — from IT service desks to HR, finance, customer support and more. Demand for RPA software is accelerating. Indeed, global RPA software revenue is projected to reach $1.89 billion in 2021, up 19.5% from 2020, according to Gartner.
8. UiPath Revenue: Annual revenue was $607.6 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021 -- up 81 percent from $336.2 million the previous year.
9. UiPath Net Loss: The company had an annual net loss of $92.4 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021 -- far smaller than a $519.9 million loss the previous year.
10. Channel Partners: UiPath's business partner ecosystem includes more than 3,700 global and regional system integrators, value-added resellers (VARs), and business consultants. The partner network includes such major players as Accenture, Capgemini, CGI, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst and Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
11. Revenue From Channel Partners: UiPath derived a "substantial" amount of revenue via through channel partners over the past two years, but did not disclose specific figures.
12. MSPs: Alas, UiPath did not mention an MSP partner strategy in the SEC filing. The company's Automation Cloud is a managed, multi-tenant SaaS option. Though we don't know if it's multi-tenant for MSP partners.
13. Enterprise Customers: The company had 7,968 customers as of January 2021 -- up from 6,009 customers in January 2020. Key adopters include 80% of the Fortune 10 and 63% of the Fortune Global 500. Noteworthy customers include Adobe, Applied Materials, Chevron, Chipotle Mexican Grill, CrowdStrike, CVS Health, Deutsche Post DHL, EY, Generali, KDDI, SBA Communications, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Uber Technologies.
14. Small Business Customers: Although UiPath is best known as an enterprise automation solution, the company also has an inside sales team focused on small and midsize businesses.
15. Technical Alliances: Key technical alliances span such companies as Amazon Web Services Inc., Adobe Inc., Alteryx Inc., Box, Inc., IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce.com, inc., SAP, ServiceNow, and Workday.
16. Recent Acquisition: Cloud Elements for API-based automation.
17. UiPath Alternatives and RPA Software Market Competition: Multiple companies are acquiring RPA software providers and associated RPA consulting skills. Key RPA software companies include Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and Microsoft Power Automate. Moreover, ServiceNow acquired Intellibot, an RPA startup, in mid-March 2021.
Blog originally published March 26, 2021, with SEC filing information. Updated April 22, 2021 with post-IPO valuation information.
