UiPath Inc., one of the hottest companies in the fast-emerging robotic process automation market, reportedly is close to sealing another huge round of funding that could see its valuation soar beyond the $6 billion mark.

UiPath has long been a magnet for venture capital, raising a total of $448 million in three rounds since 2017. Most recently, in November it secured a $40 million extension to its latest $225 million Series C funding round, bringing its valuation north of $3 billion.

BusinessInsider cited “multiple anonymous sources” as saying that talks between UiPath and investors over its Series D round are still ongoing and could see $300 million to $400 million more pumped into the company.

The investment could double UiPath’s valuation, with the company expected to be worth between $6 billion and $7 billion once it closes in April, the sources said. If so, that would see UiPath become the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup, ahead of China’s $4.5 billion-valued SenseTime.

The round would be led by public institutional investors for the first time, the report added. UiPath’s main backers are venture capital firms such as Accel, CapitalG and Sequoia Capital, but the current talks are said to involve the technology hedge funds Coatue, T. Rowe Price and Blackstone.

UiPath is widely regarded as one of the leaders in robotic process automation, or RPA. The discipline is a subset of artificial intelligence that uses software robots to observe workflows in common business applications and then deduce ways to automate repetitive tasks.

UiPath builds software “robots” that monitor users’ individual keystrokes as they interact with applications such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management, identifying repetitive patterns and suggests ways to automate them. Eliminating a few keystrokes may seem trivial, but the savings can be enormous when applied to hundreds or thousands of users over long periods of time. Automation also reduces errors and improves speed.

The company has also built up an extensive ecosystem around RPA, offering free training programs, a no-cost community edition and free online forums for developers. Last year it made a bid to expand this ecosystem with the launch of a new marketplace for its artificial intelligence tools and services.

UiPath’s customer base includes several U.S. government agencies, including the Inland Revenue Service and the Army. Its software is also popular with companies in the financial services sector, helping to combat fraud.

UiPath Chief Marketing Officer Bobby Patrick, who appeared as a guest on SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio theCUBE during the company’s UiPathForward Americas event in Miami in October, discussed the impact RPA is having on numerous industries:

UiPath’s ability to keep attracting investors can be explained by AI’s importance as the main driver towards digital transformation, wherein enterprises can automate complete business processes just by looking at the accumulated digital exhaust of their workers, said Holger Mueller, principal analyst and vice president at Constellation Research Inc.

“RPA is one step before that and very popular for increasing enterprise efficiencies,” Mueller said. “The race is on to build these platforms and algorithms, and that needs a lot of investment today for the leaders of tomorrow.”

Asked to comment, the company declined to confirm the reports but did say it would make a formal announcement if and when the funding round happens. “UiPath is experiencing tremendous growth and momentum, which is attracting an increased level of attention and interest in the company,” a spokeswoman for UiPath said.

UiPath isn’t the only RPA company to attract big money from investors. Last November, one of its main rivals, Automation Anywhere Inc., raised a $300 million round from SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund that saw it valued at $2.6 billion. And just last month, a smaller RPA firm called Kryon raised $40 million in a Series C round of funding.

Photo: UiPath