Fast-growing robotic process automation startup UiPath Inc. is setting its sights on Wall Street after filing confidential paperwork for an initial public offering that will likely come in the first half of 2021.

UiPath hasn’t yet determined a price for the offering, but Bloomberg, which first reported the news today, speculated it could put the company’s value at more than $20 billion. The report added that the company is working with banks that include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and Credit Suisse Group AG to prepare the offering.

Led by Chief Executive Daniel Dines (pictured), the company is one of the hottest startups in the emerging RPA market. RPA is a subset of artificial intelligence that involves using 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 tools, identifying repetitive patterns and suggesting 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 offers an extensive ecosystem around RPA as well, including free training programs, a no-cost community edition and free online forums for developers. Its tools were in big demand prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and interest in the company has accelerated as enterprises look for ways to mitigate future risks to the productivity of their human workforces.

UiPath was most recently valued at over $10 billion following a $225 million late-stage funding round in July that took its total amount raised to more than $1 billion. The company reportedly has more than $400 million in annual recurring revenue. At the time of that July funding round, UiPath’s chief corporate development officer Vijay Khanna told SiliconANGLE the company was aiming to become cash-flow positive by the end of 2020.

UiPath has not been shy about its ambitions to go public one day. Khanna said going public is an aspiration but said it will only do it when the time is right. “A lot of things have to come in place,” he said in July. “It’s a matter of priorities, when we have so much customer demand.”

Things may have fallen into place faster than expected, and UiPath knows it can’t afford to stand still if it wants to retain its leading position in RPA. It faces other hard-charging rivals such as Automation Anywhere Inc.

Moreover, rivals including Microsoft Corp. and IBM Corp. have both made significant acquisitions this year that aim to boost their presence in the market. In May, Microsoft bought a company called Softomotive Ltd. that sells tools that automate repetitive activities performed on Windows machines. Then in June, IBM acquired Brazilian RPA firm WDG Automation Inc. Ltd. and said it plans to integrate that software with its Cloud Pak for Automation tools.

UiPath joins a host of startups looking to cash in on Wall Street’s enthusiasm for hot young software companies. Investors are also looking forward to IPOs next year from the big-data analytics player Databricks Inc., digital video-game company Roblox Corp. and machine learning automation startup DataRobot Inc.

The second half of this year was an IPO bonanza, with several major software companies making strong public debuts.

One of the most successful was Airbnb Inc., which raised about $3.5 billion and saw its market capitalization jump to $87 billion on its first day of trading. Snowflake Inc. raised almost $4 billion on its first day of trading and saw its market cap double, to $68 billion. Other big IPOs this year included DoorDash Inc., C3.ai Inc., Sumo Logic Inc., JFrog Ltd. and Unity Software Inc.

Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Inc., told SiliconANGLE that UiPath was similar to Snowflake in the sense that it already has a mature and sustainable business with solid recurring revenues. That means it has far better prospects than some hot startup whose founders are simply hoping to cash in big and move on, he said.

“UiPath develops solutions and services to enhance and add value to established enterprise business processes,” King said. “Those are the kinds of organizations that have survived 2020 mostly intact and will likely continue doing well post-COVID-19. By filing for an IPO, UiPath is signaling that it believes 2021 will usher in a new, upward-moving business cycle in which it plans to play a significant role.”

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller said it was encouraging to see so many IPOs despite the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The need for UiPath does has increased,” he said. “Enterprises need all the tools they can get to achieve more productivity and become more efficient.”

Dines appeared in September on SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio theCUBE:

Photo: SiliconANGLE