AI vendor hints at IPO after recent $7bn valuation

UiPath raises $568m in its recent Series D funding round

Robotics company UiPath has hinted at a potential IPO after seeing its valuation rise to $7bn (£5.4bn) in its latest investment round.

The robotic process automation (RPA) vendor raised $568m (£434m) in Series D funding, and it states it is now one of the highest-valued artificial intelligence (AI) companies in the world.

UiPath claimed to be the fastest-growing enterprise software vendor in history after it raised $265m in Series C funding last November.

It has now raised over $1bn in investment since its initial Series A round closed in April 2017.

The company hinted on its site that the recent valuation brings it closer to an IPO, as it undertakes to operate like one.

"Our focus is on raising capital as needed to sustain our commitment to our customers' success and workforce education while we continue exponential growth," it stated.

"We are practising what it takes to be a public company today, including implementing public company-calibre financial accounting, processes and controls and building the industry's strongest management team that includes executives from HP, Microsoft, NetApp, Nutanix, and SAP."

The additional funds will be used to support further growth, including partner training and M&A.

The vendor has hit $200m in annual recurring revenue, but it said that the recent funding will be used to "aggressively" accelerate growth.

Daniel Dines, CEO and co-founder, said the industry is at "tipping point".

"Business leaders everywhere are augmenting their workforces with software robots, rapidly accelerating the digital transformation of their entire business and freeing employees to spend time on more impactful work," he said.

"UiPath is leading this workforce revolution, driven by our core determination to democratise RPA and deliver on our vision of a robot helping every person.

"I am humbled by the amazing support our customers, partners and investors give us every day, inspiring us to work harder to evolve RPA as the platform that not only unlocks the true potential of AI but also other emerging technologies. We are just getting started."