Workato Raises $200 Million Series E Funding at a $5.7 Billion Valuation to Accelerate Record Growth and Capitalise on Surging Demand for Enterprise Automation

Workato, the leader in enterprise automation, announced $200 million in Series E funding led by Battery Ventures, with equal participation from Insight Partners, Altimeter Capital and Tiger Global. Geodesic Capital and Redpoint Ventures also participated in this round of financing. The new funding values Workato at $5.7 billion and comes just nine months after its $110 million Series D. Workato has raised over $420 million in total funding to date.

“Since leading Workato’s Series B in 2018, we’ve been excited to see the steady growth of usage among Workato’s customers—many of them leaders in their respective industries—and Workato’s solidifying position as a leader in the automation market, one of the fastest-growing sectors in technology”

The investment comes at a time of rapid growth for Workato and the automation market as a whole, as enterprises recognise the urgent need to increase their agility, innovation and efficiency against a backdrop of transformation and change. The pandemic has driven an even greater need for business excellence, and companies have responded by automating core workflows; seeking out low-code tools that empower employees to work quickly and autonomously.

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Following the launch of its EMEA data centre in Frankfurt earlier this year, Workato plans to use the funds to further capitalise on the market opportunity in the region. The company has grown by 243% in Europe alone over the last 12 months as enterprises, in the wake of the pandemic have turned to workflow automation to boost business efficiencies; seeking out low-code tools that empower employees to work quickly and autonomously. Workato has increased headcount in the region by 273% and its customer base in EMEA has seen 2.14x growth this year and now includes enterprises such as Freenow and Adevinta.

The funds raised will go towards expanding its EMEA customer success team and senior leadership, holding the first user conference in Europe, setting up a customer advisory board in Europe and expanding its ecosystem of partners. The investment will also go towards boosting its European presence. The company currently has operations in Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, UK and Israel and is now looking to open additional offices in regions including Benelux and the Nordics to serve customers there.

A key hire made in response to Workato’s strong growth and expansion plans in Europe is that of Robert Ekstrom, who joins Workato as VP & GM EMEA, based in Munich. Robert brings over twenty years’ management experience within the enterprise software market, having held management roles at leading multinationals including Dell, EMC and Xerox. Prior to joining Workato, he was VP & GM at Blue Prism, an enterprise intelligent automation vendor.

The latest funding will also be used globally to further accelerate the company’s product roadmap and leadership in enterprise automation, in addition to continuing to drive the integration-led automation movement. Workato, already a leader in connecting and integrating applications, is launching the “10,000 Connector Initiative” with the acquisition of RailsData, which specialises in the connectivity of applications, databases, and devices using APIs. With thousands of applications used by an enterprise, connectivity is critical to achieving automation at scale.

Historically, companies have been forced to deploy a variety of integration and automation tools to optimise their processes at the data, process, API and UX levels. This model is highly inefficient, and companies have flocked to Workato because it provides all of these capabilities in a single, low-code platform that allows business users and IT departments to collaborate on process automation.

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“Businesses are still struggling to achieve true transformation because RPA and integration tools cannot scale to address the needs of enterprises today,” said Vijay Tella, Workato CEO and Co-founder. “Workato’s enterprise automation platform, a single platform for automation and integration that can be used by both Business and IT, addresses the challenges companies face when trying to automate at scale, enabling enterprises to achieve the speed and agility necessary for organisational transformation. We’re excited to put this new round of funding to work for our customers as they continue to push the boundaries of innovation.”

He added: “The European market is beginning to catch up in terms of adoption of Enterprise Automation as enterprises seek a means of driving business outcomes at scale as they recover from setbacks caused by the pandemic. We are pleased to be able to boost our operations in the region through this investment and enhance services for our European customers.”

“Since leading Workato’s Series B in 2018, we’ve been excited to see the steady growth of usage among Workato’s customers—many of them leaders in their respective industries—and Workato’s solidifying position as a leader in the automation market, one of the fastest-growing sectors in technology,” said Neeraj Agrawal, a general partner at Battery Ventures. “We’ve had a front-row seat to watch Workato truly transform many of its customers’ businesses, which is one reason why we and other existing investors in the company are excited to lead this new funding round.”

“The events of the past 10 months have made operational excellence more critical than ever, and businesses understand that enterprise automation is a cornerstone to achieving the heightened agility, innovation and performance they need to succeed in any environment,” said Pauline Yang, partner, Altimeter Capital. “The market for automation products will only continue to expand, and we believe that Workato has the best technology, partnerships and leadership team in place to capitalise on this exciting opportunity.”

Customers trust Workato as their automation platform of choice and three out four customers automate business processes across three or more business functions.

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