TU/e spin-off acquired by major American AI multinational
ProcessGold, a Dutch process mining company partly owned by TU/e, has been acquired by the American billion dollar company UiPath. UiPath is one of the most important players in the field of Robotic Process Automation, an emerging field in ICT that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate business processes. The TU/e regards the sale as an important step in the further growth of ProcessGold, and sees opportunities for cooperation between UiPath and EAISI, the university's new AI institute.
ProcessGold's software is used for process mining, the analysis of large amounts of business information by means of smart algorithms. These analyses not only provide more insight into business processes, but also enable companies to make their production processes more efficient. Large companies, such as Philips, Aegon, KPN, Porsche and KPMG, use ProcessGold's software. In 2018, the company was one of the top 50 fastest growing software companies.
ProcessGold merged in 2016 with MagnaView in Eindhoven, a company founded in 2005 by Erik-Jan van der Linden and TU/e alumnus Roel Vliegen, in close collaboration with the data visualisation group of Professor Jack van Wijk and the process mining group of former TU/e Professor Wil van der Aalst. In exchange for the knowhow that was brought in, the TU/e received shares in the company, which are now being taken over by UiPath.
Impuls
Van Wijk praises the collaboration between ProcessGold and TU/e. "From the very beginning, especially through a long series of graduation projects, we have worked succesfully together: the interaction between research and business has led to all kinds of new techniques that have proved useful in practice. This acquisition is an excellent step forward. It offers ProcessGold every opportunity for further growth, especially as UiPath and ProcessGold complement each other perfectly."
For the TU/e, the transaction is proof that the policy of investing in promising start-ups is bearing fruit. The university also sees opportunities for future collaboration between UiPath and EAISI, the TU/e's new AI institute.
Carlo van de Weijer, director of EAISI, is pleased with the acquisition. "The fact that we now have a direct link with a major player like UiPath gives a new impulse to our plans to become a leading university in the field of AI".
Gamechanger
UiPath is one of the world's largest players in the field of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which uses virtual robots (or 'bots') to automate business processes. The use of these AI bots can lead to enormous cost savings because human programmers are no longer needed. The company was founded in 2005 in Bucharest, Romania, and is now active in 23 countries. It employs about 3000 people. With an estimated market value of 6.4 billion dollars, it is one of the ten best-performing tech companies in the US.
The company describes the acquisition of ProcessGold as a 'gamechanger'. “With this acquisitoin UiPath becomes the first vendor of scale to offer a solution that brings together both process mining and RPA capabilities.”
Read also UiPath press release