Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere is an agentic process automation platform that combines traditional RPA software bots with AI agents to automate work across the enterprise. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in San Jose, Automation Anywhere built its name on cloud-native RPA and now centers its product on the Agentic Process Automation (APA) System, which lets teams design, deploy, and govern AI agents alongside rule-based bots. The platform handles document processing, application integration, and end-to-end workflows in finance, IT, HR, and customer service. Automation Anywhere adds a generative-AI assistant, Automation Co-Pilot, so business users can trigger and build automations in natural language.

Production credibility: Founded in 2003 as Tethys Solutions (rebranded to Automation Anywhere in 2010) by Mihir Shukla, Neeti Mehta Shukla, Ankur Kothari, and Rushabh Parmani. The company raised a $550M Series A in 2018 backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, NEA, Goldman Sachs, and General Atlantic, followed by a $290M Series B in 2019 led by Salesforce Ventures that set a post-money valuation of roughly $6.8B. A further $250M round in 2024, led by NEA and Goldman Sachs Growth, was reported at a lower ~$1.8B mark. Automation Anywhere has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation, including the 2025 report, and serves thousands of enterprises and government agencies worldwide across finance, IT, HR, and customer-service automation.

Key Features

• Agentic Process Automation (APA) System for building and governing AI agents alongside RPA bots
• Cloud-native bot creation, orchestration, and centralized Control Room management
• Automation Co-Pilot, a generative-AI assistant for building and triggering automations in natural language
• Document Automation with AI-powered extraction for invoices, forms, and unstructured documents
• Pre-built connectors and an automation marketplace (Bot Store) for common enterprise apps
• Process discovery and analytics to identify and prioritize automation opportunities
• Enterprise-grade security, role-based access, credential vaulting, and audit logging
• Attended and unattended bots for both desktop-assisted and fully autonomous workflows

Ideal Use Case

A shared-services finance team automates invoice intake, accounts-payable matching, and reporting by combining document-extraction AI with unattended bots, then layers AI agents to handle exceptions that previously required manual review.

How Automation Anywhere differentiates

Against UiPath, Automation Anywhere offers a comparable enterprise RPA suite but markets a fully cloud-native architecture and frames its roadmap squarely around the agentic Process Automation System, where UiPath has a larger community, broader partner network, and deeper on-premises heritage. Against Microsoft Power Automate, Automation Anywhere is a dedicated automation platform rather than a tool bundled into the Microsoft 365 and Power Platform stack, which appeals to mixed-vendor environments but lacks Power Automate's low entry price for Microsoft-centric shops. Its trade-off is enterprise pricing and implementation effort that can exceed lightweight or departmental tools. Buyers standardizing on Azure may still find Power Automate cheaper to adopt.

FAQ

Q: What is Automation Anywhere? A: Automation Anywhere is an agentic process automation platform. It combines RPA software bots with AI agents to automate document processing, application workflows, and end-to-end business processes across finance, IT, HR, and customer service.

Q: Who founded Automation Anywhere and when? A: It was founded in 2003 as Tethys Solutions by Mihir Shukla, Neeti Mehta Shukla, Ankur Kothari, and Rushabh Parmani, and rebranded to Automation Anywhere in 2010. It is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Q: How much has Automation Anywhere raised? A: The company raised a $550M Series A in 2018 (SoftBank Vision Fund, NEA, Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic) and a $290M Series B in 2019 led by Salesforce Ventures at a reported ~$6.8B valuation. A 2024 round added $250M, reportedly at a lower ~$1.8B valuation.

Q: Automation Anywhere vs UiPath: which is better? A: Both are enterprise RPA leaders. Automation Anywhere emphasizes a cloud-native design and its Agentic Process Automation System, while UiPath has a larger developer community, wider partner ecosystem, and stronger on-premises legacy. The better fit depends on your cloud strategy, existing skills, and agent roadmap.

Q: How much does Automation Anywhere cost? A: Automation Anywhere uses custom enterprise pricing based on the number and type of bots, AI capabilities, and deployment. A free Community Edition is available for individuals and small teams to learn the platform; production pricing is quoted by sales.

tl;dr

Automation Anywhere is an agentic process automation platform that pairs RPA bots with AI agents under its APA System. A Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant Leader funded at a multibillion-dollar valuation, it competes directly with UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate.

Related

Looking for more options? Browse the Workflow Automation directory or read our best AI process automation tools listicle. Automation Anywhere is also tracked on Crunchbase.