Software maker UiPath valued at $34 billion in NYSE debut as shares jump 17%

(Reuters) -Automation tech startup UiPath Inc’s shares jumped nearly 17% in their U.S. market debut on Wednesday, giving the company a market value of $34 billion and underscoring investors’ appetite for high-growth stocks.

Its stock opened at $65.50, compared with the initial public offering (IPO) price of $56 per share.

Backed by the likes of Accel, Dragoneer and Coatue Management, UiPath uses artificial intelligence and low-code tools to help large corporations and government agencies automate repetitive and routine tasks in areas such as accounting and human resources.

The startup priced its offering of 23.9 million shares at $56 apiece to raise around $1.34 billion. It will receive proceeds of around $527 million from the IPO.

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Several richly valued startups, including cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase Global and South Korean e-commerce startup Coupang, have already cashed in on the record run in U.S. capital markets this year.

Unicorns such as electric-vehicle startup Rivian and Microsoft-backed DataBricks are also set to go public later in 2021.

Started in 2005 by former Microsoft executive Daniel Dines, UiPath recorded a surge in demand for its services during the COVID-19 pandemic from businesses shifting to remote working.

The New York-based startup was valued at $35 billion in a funding round earlier this year, a more than three-fold jump from the $10.2 billion valuation it received when it raised capital in July 2020.

UiPath earlier this week raised the price range for its IPO, whose lead underwriters were Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.