Automation Anywhere may look at IPO in future, continues expansion in India

While not disclosing revenue numbers for previous years, the company said revenue grew nearly 200 per cent in the previous financial year

Automation Anywhere, the robotic process automation (RPA) software company, may look at a public listing as one way to raise more capital to fund growth.

Mihir Shukla, co-founder and chief executive, said while it was generating decent enough money to support expansion for now, it would evaluate options.

“We have various strategic options (for raising capital) for a firm of our size. We have a choice of going public at a time of our choice,” he elaborated. “As compared to our competition, we are growing faster and generating more cash. So, we may not have to raise capital very often.” 

The SoftBank-backed unicorn start-up has raised $550 million so far in three rounds, counting General Atlantic and Goldman Sachs as other backers. Last November, the California-headquartered entity raised $300 million from SoftBank Vision Fund, a firm valuation of $2.6 billion. 

Since then, the company has grown almost three times, Shukla added. Founded by four Indians — Ankur Kothari, Neeti Mehta Shukla, Mihir Shukla and Rushabh Parmani — in 2003, it has deployed around 1.4 million bots across enterprises. And, aims to take this number to around three million in the next three years. 

It plans to invest $100 million (Rs 700 crore) in India during the the next three to five years and has got former EY partner Milan Seth to head its operations in this country. It will add to its presence in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Vadodara, while looking at opening offices in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. “We will invest in our research and development centre, apart from doing so to create an eco-system. That means the training of students and workforce, among others, for growth of the industry. We will also spend on enabling our overseas clients which have in-house centres here,” said Shukla. 

While not disclosing revenue numbers for previous years, it said revenue grew nearly 200 per cent in the previous financial year. It now has 3,100 customers across 18 divisions. The firm draws around 60 per cent of revenue from America, while India accounts for 15 per cent. 

RPA companies have seen a lot of investor interest in recent years — UiPath and Kofax have raised huge amounts of capital from private equity players. With a global market size of $10 trillion, all of them are competing intensely for more share.