UiPath has high ambitions despite whatever’s happening in the markets

In its first day of trading Wednesday, software automation company UiPath hit a pop of about 23%. 

What this means: While the company priced its initial public offering at a valuation of about $31 billion, below the $35 billion tag from its most recent round of private funding, UiPath came back from the down round to hit a $38 billion valuation by the end of the trading day.

I am somewhat surprised to see the lack of typical discussion around the one-day IPO pop (it’s “money left on the table!”) given that UiPath did sell shares at a lower valuation than its last round of funding. And the company did at one point consider a direct listing—the method of going public billed as a way to avoid that first-day pop. But at the very least, the company does get a nice morale boost from gaining on its first day of trading, even if that doesn’t correlate with long-term returns.

As far as UiPath CEO Daniel Dines is concerned, he still sees it as a good market to go public in, as told to my colleague Aaron Pressman. And he’s selling shareholders on a loftier ambition than just automation. From Aaron’s story:

“Our vision is that the next generation of enterprises will even build their processes, their businesses, on top of our platform,” he says. “In the next five years, most manual repetitive tasks can be automated. That will completely transform the job of knowledge workers today. They will be more productive, and their engagement will be way higher.”

Ultimately, he’s shooting for the highest tier of business software, one he worked on back in his Microsoft days before starting UiPath in 2005. “Maybe we will build the next Microsoft Excel for business users,” Dines says.

Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com

VENTURE DEALS

- Ornikar, a Paris-based specialist in driver training and road awareness, raised €100 million ($120 million) in Series C funding. KKR led the round and was joined by investors including Next Generation Technology Growth Fund.

- Deep Instinct, a New York-based deep learning cybersecurity startup, raised $100 million in Series D funding. BlackRock led the round and was joined by investors including Untitled Investments, The Tudor Group, and Anne Wojcicki.

- BUX, an Amsterdam-based neo-broker, raised $80 million. Prosus Ventures and Tencent led the round and was joined by investors including  ABN Amro Ventures, Citius, Optiver, and Endeit Capital.

- Overtime, a Brooklyn-based sports brand, has raised $80 million in Series C funding. Sapphire Sport and Black Capital led the round, joined by investors including Bezos Expeditions, Drake, Micromanagement Ventures (the family of the late NBA commissioner David Stern), Morgan Stanley Counterpoint Global, Blackstone Strategic Partners, PROOF, and Gaingels.

- Productboard, a San Francisco based product management platform, raised $72 million in Series C funding. Tiger Global led the round and was joined by investors including Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

- Kyligence, a San Jose, Calif.-based data analytics company, raised $70 million in Series D funding. SPDB International led the round and was joined by investors including Alpha Square Group, CICC, Gopher Asset Management, Shanghai Growth Capital, PUXIN Capital, and Jumbo Sheen Group.

- Cherre, a New York-based real estate data management and analytics platform, raised $50 million. Trustbridge Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Glilot Capital Partners, former Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Mark Schwartz, Intel Capital, Navitas Capital, and Carthona Capital.

- Current Health, a Boston-based remote care management platform, raised $43 million in Series B funding. Northpond Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including LRVHealth, OSF HealthCare, Section 32, and Elements Health Ventures.

- BigID, a New York-based privacy-focused data intelligence company, raised $30 million. Advent International was the investor, valuing the company at $1.3 billion. 

- Outlier.org, a New York-based online education platform focused on student debt, raised $30 million in Series B funding. GV led the round and was joined by investors including Unusual Ventures, GSV, Harrison Metal, and Gaingels.

- Summus Global, a New York-based virtual health specialist platform, raised $21 million in Series B funding. Sator Grove Holdings led the round and was joined by investors including Outsiders Fund, Savoy Capital, and Teamworthy Ventures.

- Alto Solutions, a Nashville, Tenn.-based IRA platform, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Unusual Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Moment Ventures, Acrew Capital, and Alpha Edison, as well as Carta, Coinbase Ventures, Franklin Templeton, New York Life Ventures, and Stone Ridge Holdings Group. 

- CluedIn, a Denmark-based data management platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Dawn Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Stijn Christiaens (Co-founder and CTO of Collibra).

- Orca AI, an Israel-based maker of a navigation and collision avoidance solution, raised $13 million in Series A funding. OCV Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Mizmaa Ventures and Playfair Capital.

- Innoveo, a New York-based no-code solution, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Paulson & Co. and Michael E. Tennenbaum invested alongside Everstone Capital.

- Ophelia, a New York-based healthcare tech startup providing treatment for opioid addictions, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Menlo Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Y Combinator, General Catalyst, and Refactor Capital.

- My Percent, a New York-based investing platform, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. White Star Capital and B Capital led the round.

- Seqster PDM, a San Diego-based healthcare data tech company, raised $12 million in a Series A funding. OmniHealth Holdings led the round and was joined by investors including Takeda Digital Ventures and 23andMe's CEO and Founder, Anne Wojcicki.

- Creator+, a California-based film studio and streaming platform, raised $12 million. Investors include PETRA Group and Freestyle Capital.

Plooto, a Toronto-based payments automation platform for small- and medium-sized businesses, raised $8 million in Series A funding. FINTOP Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Luge Capital and Inovia Capital.

- Quala.io, a Boston-based customer platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Underscore VC led the round.

- Authzed, a New York-based API services company, raised $3.9 million in seed funding. Work-Bench led the round and was joined by investors including Amplify Partners and Y Combinator.

- Stix, a Philadelphia-based company for women to confidently manage their health, raised $3.5 million in seed funding.  Resolute Ventures and SWAT Equity Partners co-led the round, and were joined by investors including Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator and Bullish.

- Kumospace, a New York-based video chat provider, raised $3 million in seed funding. Boldstart Ventures led and was joined by investors including Lightspeed’s scout fund.

- Madre Mezcal, Venice, Calif.-based mezcal brand, raised $3 million in Series A funding. Room 9 led the round.

- Jobilla, a Finland-based talent acquisition startup, €1.46 million ($1.8 million). Trind VC led the round.

- Per Diem, a New York-based startup for small businesses to create subscriptions, raised $2.3 million in seed funding. Two Sigma Ventures led the round, and was joined by Decent Capital and DNX Ventures.

- Tribal Credit, a  San Francisco-based financial services company for SMEs in emerging markets, raised $34.3 million in debt and equity.  QED Investors and Partners for Growth led the round.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Bain Capital is weighing an acquisition of Toshiba, Japanese conglomerate. Financial terms weren't disclosed. 

- Spectrum Equity led a $74 million minority investment in Empyrean Solutions, a Woburn, Mass.-based provider of asset and liability management and risk and compliance solutions for banks and credit unions. Information Venture Partners also participated.

- Compusoft Group, backed by TA Associates, acquired First Degree Systems, a U.K.-based provider of software solutions for the window and door industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Encore Dredging Partners, backed by AV Capital, acquired the dredging assets of RLB Contracting. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Insurity, a portfolio company of GI Partners, acquired Instec, a provider of software software to property and casualty insurance carriers. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Rock Mountain Capital made a minority investment in Spark Orthodontics, a Pennsylvania-based specialty orthodontics platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- ECS / My IT, backed by investors including ParkSouth Ventures, acquired The Purple Guys, a Kansas City, Ks.-based managed service provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Koch Strategic Platforms invested in Mavenir, a Richardson, Tx.-based software processing company backed by Siris. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Antarctica Capital formed EarthDaily Analytics, an integrated data processing and analytics company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

EXITS

- Affirm (Nasdaq: AFRM) agreed to acquire Returnly, a San Francisco-based online return experiences and post-purchase payments company, for about $300 million. Mundi Ventures and Ariel Poler back the firm.

- Aquiline Capital Partners agreed to acquire Xact Data Discovery, a Mission, Ks.-based provider data management and managed review services, from JLL Partners. Aquiline and Stone Point Capital will combine it with Consilio. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHER

- Accenture (NYSE: ACN) invested in Okra, a Nigeria-based open finance data infrastructure startup. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IPOS

- DoubleVerify, an advertising verification platform, raised about $232.9 million in a sale of 8.63 million shares priced at $27 apiece. Selling shareholders raised about $127 million in a sale of about 4.7 million shares.

- Atai Life Sciences, a German psychedelic medicines startup, filed for an IPO.  Peter Thiel backs the firm.

F+FS

- Congruent Ventures, a San Francisco-based early-stage climate tech investor, raised $175 million for its  second fund.

- Endeavour Vision, a Geneva-based growth stage investor raised $375 million for Endeavour Medtech Growth II.

PEOPLE

- Frontline Ventures, an Ireland-based firm focused on B2B companies, named Namratha Kothapalli, a former senior associate at Speedinvest, as a principal.