When UiPath announced in April that it was bringing on veteran enterprise executive Rob Enslin as co-CEO, it was a big surprise. UiPath had gone public the prior year, while Enslin was leaving Google Cloud after only two years, just as it was beginning to find its footing.
But at the time, UiPath faced some harsh realities in the public markets.
Perhaps that’s why co-founder and CEO Daniel Dines was ready to bring in an industry leader who understood the enterprise market. Dines led UiPath through some heady times, topping out with a private valuation of $35 billion in early 2021. At that point, the markets were strong, an IPO was in sight, and the future looked bright.
But since then, the company has had to deal with a market that’s been particularly unforgiving to SaaS companies. Today, UiPath’s stock price sits around $12.60 per share, down from a 52-week high of almost $60. Its market cap has plunged to less than $7 billion, a fifth of its final private valuation.
Enslin clearly has his work cut out for him.
The co-CEO, who spent 27 years at SAP before joining Google a couple of years ago, said that he has had the privilege of working with two companies that were “defining technologies of their era.” He believes that UiPath is similarly positioned in the area of automation – and that he’s up for the challenge to help it get there.
Source @TechCrunch
