The fast-growing robotic process automation (RPA) software market received a painful reality check today, when UiPath’s stock fell by approximately 25 percent. Moreover, shares of UiPath ($ PATH) have now dropped nearly 70 percent over the past year.
Amid that backdrop, UiPath hired Microsoft veteran Chris Weber as chief business officer. Weber will oversee UiPath’s go-to-market strategy-along with its partner organizations.
Weber was formerly VP of Microsoft’s corporate and SMB commercial team. Now, you can consider him the new channel chief of UiPath.
UiPath: Can New Channel Chief, Partners Again Accelerate Revenue Growth Rate?
Among the challenges Weber faced when he came to UiPath: Slowing growth and lack of revenue-despite the fact that global system integrators and enterprise customers seem to be overly satisfied with software deployments of the RPA.
UiPath CEO Daniel Dines
UiPath during an earnings call on March 30, 2022, praised the growing relationship with many global system integrators. The company ended the quarter with 5,100 partners – including names like Ingram Micro, Deloitte, Finastra and ISID, according to UiPath executives.
During the revenue call, UiPath CEO Daniel Dines insisted:
“In terms of partners, we’re seeing solid growth in all segments. But obviously, the ones that bring us the most important business are the global systems integrators. Accenture, for example, is becoming one of our largest partners.The investment we have made in the relationship is fruitful.Also, PwC is one of our biggest customers and partners.We drive a lot of business with them and as an anecdote, they recently announced that they are ending their relationship with Blue Prism .So, they usually focus on us as their automation partner. “
However, the growth rate of UiPath is slowing. The quick math looks like this:
- UiPath’s revenue was $ 289.7 million in Q4 of fiscal 2022, up 39 percent from Q4 of fiscal 2021.
- Also, UiPath announced a net loss of $ 63.1 million for the quarter, compared to $ 26.2 million net income in Q4 of fiscal 2021.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations, but analysts didn’t seem to be impressed with UiPath’s growth forecast for the coming quarters. For the full fiscal year of 2023, the company expects annual revenue of $ 1.075 billion to $ 1.085 billion – representing a slowdown in growth from $ 892.3 million in fiscal 2022.
This is the second warning in the automation software market industry in recent weeks. A somewhat relevant warning came when Hyperscience laid off 100 employees in early March 2022.
RPA Software: Market Forecast
Despite the growth of market pains, the overall automation software market is emerging strong and growth in the RPA software segment is also emerging strong – at least in terms of overall market forecasts.
In fact, the global robotic process automation market is expected to reach $ 10.7 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 33.6% from 2020 to 2027, according to Grand View Research Inc.
Amid the growth of the RPA market, many companies are acquiring RPA software providers and related RPA consulting skills.
RPA’s major enterprise -focused software companies include Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Microsoft Power Automate, Salesforce, ServiceNow and UiPath, among others.
Even IBM jumped into the action, as part of IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’s M&A to pivot the enterprise technology provider towards multi-cloud software that drives business automation.
RPA Software: MSP Opportunities
Meanwhile, startups like Rewst and ElectroNeek want to bring the power of RPA to the MSP sector.
Among the latest moves: Rewst took ConnectWise and Perch Security veteran Wes Spencer as president in February 2022. Earlier, Rewst raised $ 3.5 million from Florida Funders in November 2021. Also, ElectroNeek raised mid -term of 29021 $ 20 million in Series A funding.
Elsewhere, Ingram Micro has agreed to distribute UiPath’s RPA software worldwide, the two technology companies confirmed in May 2021.
Those milestones suggest that automation software is catching up with MSPs. But job layoffs at Hyperscience and slowing growth at UiPath offer timely reminders about business resets-especially if Wall Street and Venture Capitalists are wary of valuations around the world. .
Disclosure: ChannelE2E Editorial Director Joe Panettieri is a member of the Florida Funders.