SoftBank Vision Fund Invests $300 Mn In Robotics Tech Platform Automation Anywhere

A robotic process automation company called Automation Anywhere has raised $300 Mn from the SoftBank Vision Fund.

The California-based company, which was founded in 2003 by four co-founders of Indian origin, Ankur Kothari, Mihir Shukla, Neeti Mehta, and Rushabh Parmani, comes 5 months after it raised $250 Mn funding, led by New Enterprise Associates and Goldman Sachs Growth Equity at a valuation of $1.8 Bn.

Automation Anywhere is a technology platform, which enables the automation of business processes and is present globally with a footprint in three cities in India – Bengaluru, Mumbai and Baroda. The latest round of funding brings its total financing to over $500 Mn.

Mihir Shukla, CEO and co-founder at Automation Anywhere said, “With this additional capital, we are in a position to do far more than any other provider. We will not only continue to deliver the most advanced RPA to the market, but we will help bring AI to millions.”

SoftBank, via its Vision Fund, has been an active investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. It had earlier made a $238 Mn investment in PolicyBazaar and a $1 Bn investment in hotel aggregator OYO, valuing each of them at over $1Bn.

The Business of Automation 

Automation Anywhere provides a complete suite of products capable of automating business processes at scale. This includes a foundational Enterprise RPA platform; IQ Bot, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) product and Bot Insight, a predictive analytics capability embedded into bots.

“Enterprises of all sizes are in the midst of a major transition to digital platforms and we are excited to partner with Automation Anywhere to accelerate this transformation. We believe that Mihir and team bring a clear vision, a strong technology platform and a passion for delivering real value and cost optimizations for customers,” said Praveen Akkiraju, managing partner at Softbank Investment Advisers.

The company has plans to double its India headcount and remains open to acquisitions here (India).

Automation Anywhere competes with global players like New York-based UiPath, San Francisco-based enterprise AI startup Infrrd and more.

UiPath had also raised $225 Mn in a Series C funding round, co-led by existing investor CapitalG and new investor Sequoia Capital along with existing investor Accel Partners. UiPath plans to use part of the fresh financing to accelerate its India operations and for product development. The company also plans to increase its India workforce from 250 to 1,200 by end of 2019.

The global Robotic Process Automation (RPA) market size was valued at $357.5 Mn in 2017 and is expected to register at a Compunded Annual Growth Rate of 31.1% over 2018-2025, according to a market research report.

Increasing demand for Business Process Automation (BPA) through the use of AI and software robots is anticipated to be the key growth-driving factor for the market. Improving core business with RPA enables an organization to streamline IT and business operations.