Strong start for UIPath on US stock market debut

Robotics software company sees shares grow by more than 20 percent

Global software company UIPath went public yesterday and saw its shares soar by the end of its first day of trading.

The robotic process automation (RPA) vendor saw its share price surge by 23 per cent on its first day of trading. It sold 23.9 million shares at $56 each, raising around $1.3bn before expenses, with shares opening for trading at $65.50 and closing at $69.

It gives UIPath a market valuation of about $36 billion and a fully diluted value, including employee stock options and restricted stock units, of more than $38 billion, according to Bloomberg.

In a statement on the company's website yesterday, CEO Daniel Dines said: "Our journey began with 10 people in an apartment in Romania.

"We grew in six years into a multinational business operating in nearly 30 countries, becoming one of the fastest growing modern enterprise software companies ever.

"As a public company, our mission will continue to be accelerating human achievement by empowering people to delegate work to the robots. This is the promise of the fully automated enterprise."

THe IPO marked one of the biggest software stock market debuts in US history on Wednesday.

UIPath saw its revenue climb by 81% last year to $607.6 million, while the business also became cash flow positive.

It first filed for its IPO in late March but the valuation was below a private valuation of $35bn, following a $750m round of venture funding at the beginning of February.

"As much as we've accomplished, we recognise that there is a tremendous amount of work, and opportunity, ahead of us," Dines added.

"The future of work is human, it's creative, it's social, and it's dealing with the unexpected together.

"To our employees and the thousands of customers and partners who have turned to us: thank you for your trust in UiPath. We are here - and will continue to be here - to support you and your success."