Robotic process automation (RPA) software provider Softomotive says it is swapping Athens for London after securing $25 million in City funding from Grafton Capital.
“The business world has woken up to the huge potential of RPA to improve performance by automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks,” the company said in a post. “Often, this need is generated by the existence of stand-alone legacy systems which are business-critical but expensive and difficult to replace.
“Interest has peaked as RPA is increasingly seen as a keystone of digitisation, which is top of most management agendas.”
Softomotive: Swapping Athens HQ for Spitalfields
Softomotive will be moving its headquarters from Athens to London as part of the funding round, which the company hopes will expand its global footprint and accelerate its product roadmap. This includes an increased emphasis on RPA and desktop automation for SMBs, according to the company.
“With our unique portfolio comprising both desktop and server-based RPA software, we are well placed to serve enterprises of all sizes and this new partnership with Grafton Capital will help us achieve our future goals, including being a disruptive influence on the growing RPA market,” said Argyris Kaninis, COO and co-founder of the company.
Softomotive told Computer Business Review that London is a “natural place for us to centre our growth”.
“The UK is continuing to develop as a global leader in RPA and cognitive technologies – ambitious customers, world-class academic talent, and experienced growth company executives,” said Stavropoulos.
“We are building a global business so it is important for us to be close to the customers, talent, and capital markets that will support that. We are also building out our US operations very significantly but believe that London offers the best ecosystem for our business today.”
Softomotive’s products include ProcessRobot and WinAutomation software for developers of both attended and unattended RPA. While attended RPA involves bots interacting with humans and responding largely to human triggers, unattended RPA means bots are able to complete batch-mode tasks 24/7.
“There are so many benefits that organisations gain by adopting robotic automation, that the true return on investment ends up exceeding the initial expectations, Marios Stavropoulos, CEO of the company, previously said in an interview.
“An important factor is that humans are prone to errors, especially when carrying out dull, repetitive tasks. A software robot, on the other hand, can do the same thing again and again, error-free and with 100 percent accuracy.”
Read more: Robotic Process Automation Pays Off – If You Follow the Right Path
Softomotive told Computer Business Review that WinAutomation is installed directly on the desktop and doesn’t need a server, while ProcessRobot is a server-based RPA solution – meaning the former is easier and quicker to get running. ProcessRobot also has additional security and governance features.
The company cited P&S Market Research from earlier this year that the RPA market is expected to reach $8.6 million by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 36.2 percent.
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