California based Automation Anywhere, a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) company has raised $290 Mn in Series B funding round led by Salesforce Ventures with additional funding from existing investors, including Softbank Investment Advisers and Goldman Sachs. 

Last year, the RPA major had raised $550 Mn in Series A funding from SoftBank Investment Advisers, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs, NEA, World Innovation Lab, and Workday Ventures. 

With the latest round of funding, Automation Anywhere's value stands at $6.8 Bn. 

With more money to invest,  the company will focus on advancing the company’s focus on improving human-to-bot collaboration through attended automation, resulting in enhanced customer experiences and increased employee productivity.

There have been a lot of talks around AI having the potential to change how people, processes and technology interact. But there are only some companies who are now beginning to unlock AI's potential. 

"Never before has there been such a transformative shift in the way we work, with artificially intelligent software bots changing how people, processes and technology interact for productivity gains," said Mihir Shukla, CEO and co-founder, Automation Anywhere. 

Driven by digital transformation, RPA has, in fact, become the fastest growing enterprise software category, according to Gartner, Inc.

While Automation Anywhere has been exploring the many opportunities this fastest growing enterprise software category has, there is still a need to further advance the current processes and solutions in place. Therefore, the company plans to utilize recently raised  money will be to its vision to empower customers to automate end-to-end business processes – bridging the gap between the front and back office with an AI powered intelligent automation platform.

Shukla added, "The new funding reinforces the promise of the RPA category and empowers our customers to achieve greater business agility and increased efficiencies by automating end-to-end business processes.”

Automation Anywhere, in this year has taken many moves to enhance its capabilities and foster its growth. For instance, in August, it had announced that it will invest $100 Mn in India to expand its existing base in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Vadodara. Additionally, new offices were to be set up in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Pune. Then, recently, in early November, it completed the acqui-hire process of Cathyos Labs, a product engineering startup that would enable the organization’s product innovation and expansion. 

RPA is increasingly being adopted by enterprises – large and small. As per a Zinnov research and analysis, enterprises spent more than $2.3 Bn on RPA in FY19, with this number to grow exponentially by 35-40 percent and touch upwards of $11 Bn over the next five years. A plethora of bot marketplaces are coming in to play and making RPA deployment easier. 

Some of the leaders in the RPA space include Automation Anywhere, UiPath, and Blue Prism. Each of these players have increasingly started investing in advancing their solutions in a span of one year. How these Work Tech players together revolutionize the world of work with AI powered tools and solutions is something to look forward to. It would also be interesting to see who among them all captures the largest market share.