Why is UiPath, process automation software, worth 25BUSD?

UiPath recently filed for an IPO and is the robotic process automation (RPA) leader. What is it and why is it important?

Imagine a company with legacy HR systems, where CVs, test results and interview notes are in different systems. A HR manually pulls all of them together. RPA uses software robots to replicate the copy/ paste activities that HR will perform every day. Let’s say you are updating an excel sheet with profit/loss by reading data from email every day. You can automate this instead of manually filling it.

The number of hours saved each day in a big enterprise is in millions of dollars.

Saves time by not doing repetitive tasks

I recently talked about ServiceNow, 100BUSD digital workflow software. Not all enterprises use the latest software for their workflows. Banks, Insurance, government, manufacturing use legacy software. People usually do repetitive tasks to connect the dots of all the legacy systems. RPA/ software robots come in handy to connect all these separate systems and save $$$$

Product-led growth

Most companies give Windows laptops to employees. UiPath targeted this segment first and built drag and drop and low code editor to automate the tasks. UiPath now provides browser and cloud-based automation supported by a growing partnership ecosystem.

How is this market evolving?

Microsoft Flow and Google Appsheet are slowly taking market share relying on office and google suite sales. Zapier is a recent entrant shaking the world through their interconnected APIs. Some startups are targeting automation in niche areas – HR, sales, company finances, etc. Big enterprises will continue to rely on UiPath, but smaller companies might be interested in niche-focused software robots.