Automation Anywhere, a leading global start-up in the space of robotic process automation (RPA) has recently raised US$ 300 million from the SoftBank Vision Fund taking its valuation to a mind-boggling US$ 2.6 billion. Three of its four co-founders have their roots in Palanpur.

Mihir Shukla, son of Ramilaben and Sanatbhai Shukla from Palanpur, was a student of Vidyamandir from LKG to Std 12 and was the district topper in Std 12 Science in 1990. His co-founder Ankur Kothari is the son of Smita and Naren Kothari (Stellar Exports), while Neeti Mehta is the daughter of Ilaben and Janakbhai Mehta, also originally from Palanpur.

With the latest investment, its Series A financing round has raised US$ 550 million, following an earlier investment of US$ 250 million led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Goldman Sachs Growth Equity with participation from General Atlantic and World Innovation Lab (WiL).

Automation Anywhere, founded in 2003, is today a global leader in the robotic process automation (RPA) market with over 1,400 enterprise customers worldwide. RPA is basically about automating routine, standardised tasks in an organisation using computer software and processes. 

Their most unique offering is the Bot Store, the industry’s largest app store-like marketplace of downloadable bot applications that are designed by the company and its partner ecosystem to meet specific automation requirements for common business processes. The Bot Store increases the speed and simplicity in deploying bots at enterprise scale, for any size organization. It has been visited by more than 65,000 users since its launch in March 2018. 

The company’s clients include Unilever, Cisco, Synergy, Google, Tesco, ANZ, ING, Volkswagen, GM, Siemens, Mastercard and many more.

Shukla 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. Like the introduction of the PC, we see a world where every office employee will work alongside digital workers, amplifying human contributions. Today, employees must know how to use a PC and very soon employees will have to know how to build a bot.”