- Startups are struggling during the coronavirus as outside funding becomes harder to get.
- But business at buzzy startup UiPath is booming. And the crisis could actually accelerate the timeline for the $7 billion RPA firm's public offering.
- "If we are able to hit our targets, we will have one of the biggest IPOs of 2021," CEO Daniel Dines told Business Insider.
- UiPath is "closer to becoming profitable now then we were three months ago," Dines said, partially because overhead costs are down after the pandemic forced employees to work remotely.
- Click here for more BI Prime stories.
The coronavirus crisis could be bad news for startups banking on venture capital funding to keep going. But not for a high-profile company that has raised $1 billion from investors.
In fact, UiPath — the buzzy startup valued at $7 billion in the fast-growing automation market — is sticking to a bold plan: go public in 2021.
"We might accelerate our plans to go public ... when the world will come back to some sort of normal, which I cannot predict," CEO Daniel Dines told Business Insider. "If we are able to hit our targets, we will have one of the biggest IPOs of 2021."
UiPath specializes in robotic process automation, or RPA, a technology that automates many mundane office tasks, like processing job applications from new recruits.
It has gained new attention during the outbreak as hospitals use the tech to, among other things, decrease the amount of administrative work for front-line employees.
Prior to the pandemic, UiPath executives indicated it was aiming for growth in 2020 and looking to go public in 2021. Now, as the outbreak speeds the path towards profitability, the company is looking to even do it sooner.
But while Dines struck an optimistic tone, other founders are less certain about the economic environment and future plans. For example, Palantir Technologies, the data firm owned by controversial founder Peter Thiel, is considering pushing off a long-awaited IPO, according to The Wall Street Journal.
UiPath will only go public when it's a profitable company, according to Dines. And with less overhead costs due to more employees working remotely during the pandemic, discretionary spending has decreased and its closer-than-ever at reaching that milestone.
"We are almost a profitable company," Dines said. "We are closer to becoming profitable now then we were three months ago."
The company recently crossed $400 million in annual recurring revenue, which reflects the amount of ongoing subscriptions. If that trajectory continues, Dines said he is expecting revenues of more than $1 billion by 2022.
UiPath has even seen growth in some unlikely places since the outbreak hit. One of the largest US airlines doubled its automation efforts during the pandemic, said Dines, a surprising investment given the turmoil in the industry.
"The prospects for automation near-term are very, very big," he added. "Customers realize that they should rethink their contingency plans."
For Dines, the outbreak highlighted why companies should no longer put humans in charge of tasks that can be easily handled by machines. And while some clients are freezing their tech budgets, he said others are considering much larger investments in automation.
"We are cautiously optimistic about our prospects," said Dines.
Remote work into 2021
Prior to any IPO, Dines and other executives have to figure out what the future will look like post-coronavirus.
Like the majority of businesses, the company had to adjust its operations to abide by new social distancing guidelines.
It wasn't a major change for a firm that already encouraged remote work when necessary, but it has led to some challenges.
UiPath has seen an increase in productivity over the past few weeks, but Dines said he has concerns that the pivot to virtual work could accelerate burnout.
Employees, for example, weren't used to having many back-to-back meetings. Now, that's more of a reality given it's harder to have the kind of informal discussions that once took place in the office.
But some of the changes made amid the outbreak could last well beyond when cities start to reopen parts of the economy. The company isn't expecting all of its employees to return at once, said Dines, and it will only mandate in-office work once testing is more widely available.
He estimated the current working conditions could last beyond 2020. "We need to be concerned about our people's health," Dines said.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak