Automation Anywhere
Company History
Automation Anywhere History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 2003 in San Jose, California
When was Automation Anywhere founded?
Automation Anywhere was founded in 2003 in San Jose, California by Mihir Shukla, Ankur Kothari, Neeti Mehta Shukla and Rushabh Parmani, making it 23 years old.
- Founded
- 2003
- Founding place
- San Jose, California
- Founders
- Mihir Shukla, Ankur Kothari, Neeti Mehta Shukla and Rushabh Parmani
- Headquarters today
- San Jose, California, United States
- Milestones documented
- 16 (2003–2026)
- Current CEO
- Mihir Shukla
- Acquisitions
- 3
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2003 | Incorporation as Tethys Solutions in San Jose |
| 2010 | Renamed Automation Anywhere, Inc. |
| 2017 | First Imagine customer conference |
| 2018 | Bot Store opens as an RPA bot marketplace |
| 2018 | $250M Series A at a $1.8B valuation |
| 2018 | SoftBank Vision Fund adds $300M |
| 2019 | Acquisition of Klevops in Paris |
| 2019 | Enterprise A2019 launches as a web-based platform |
| 2019 | $290M Series B at a $6.8B valuation |
| 2020 | Pandemic restructuring and workforce reduction |
| 2021 | Enterprise A2019 rebranded Automation 360 |
| 2021 | Acquisition of FortressIQ for process discovery |
| 2023 | Start of an unbroken non-GAAP profitable run |
| 2024 | AI plus Automation Enterprise System and AI Agent Studio |
| 2025 | Acquisition of Aisera |
| 2026 | OpenAI collaboration and a tenth profitable quarter |
- Where was Automation Anywhere founded?
- Automation Anywhere was founded in San Jose, California in 2003.
- Who founded Automation Anywhere?
- Automation Anywhere was founded by Mihir Shukla, Ankur Kothari, Neeti Mehta Shukla and Rushabh Parmani.
- When did Automation Anywhere start?
- Automation Anywhere was founded in 2003.
- How old is Automation Anywhere?
- Automation Anywhere is 23 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
In 2003 Mihir Shukla, his wife Neeti Mehta Shukla, Ankur Kothari and Rushabh Parmani started the company from the guest bedroom of the Shuklas' house in Silicon Valley. Their observation was mundane and specific: office workers spent large parts of the day retyping the same data between systems that did not talk to each other. The answer was software that operated those systems the way a person would, clicking and typing through the same screens. They sold it for fifteen years on customer revenue alone, and only took outside investment in 2018, once large enterprises had decided that software bots were a line item worth budgeting.
Founders
Mihir Shukla
Mihir Shukla is co-founder, chief executive officer and board chair of Automation Anywhere, and the only chief executive the company has had. He started it in 2003 with his wife, Neeti Mehta Shukla, alongside Ankur Kothari and Rushabh Parmani, working from the guest bedroom of their house, originally under the name Tethys Solutions. He ran the business on customer revenue for fifteen years before raising a $250 million Series A in July 2018, then backed two full product resets: the browser-based rewrite shipped as Enterprise A2019 in 2019 and the move to AI agents announced at Imagine 2024. He is an information and communications technology governor at the World Economic Forum and speaks there on agentic enterprise operations. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Ankur Kothari
Ankur Kothari is a co-founder of Automation Anywhere and its chief operating officer, and sits on the board. He started the company in 2003 with Mihir Shukla, Neeti Mehta Shukla and Rushabh Parmani, and has held several executive roles over two decades, including chief revenue officer and chief customer and strategy officer. He now runs day-to-day operations as the company shifts from rule-based robotic process automation to agentic process automation, and he has been the public voice for its growth in India, where demand has moved from global capability centres to Indian boardrooms. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Neeti Mehta Shukla
Neeti Mehta Shukla is a co-founder of Automation Anywhere and its chief impact officer. She started the company in 2003 with her husband, Mihir Shukla, alongside Ankur Kothari and Rushabh Parmani, launching it from the guest bedroom of their house. She served as the company's senior vice president for brand and culture, shaping how it explained software bots to buyers who had no category for them, and in November 2021 she was named its first social impact officer. In that role she leads the company's giveback and sustainability work, including free automation training aimed at people outside the usual technology pipeline, and she speaks publicly on AI ethics and diversity in technology. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Rushabh Parmani
Rushabh Parmani is a co-founder of Automation Anywhere and its chief customer officer. He started the business in 2003, originally named Tethys Solutions, alongside Mihir Shukla, Neeti Mehta Shukla and Ankur Kothari. Over two decades he has worked on customer success, early product development and the foundations of the platform that the company now sells as its Agentic Process Automation System, and he remains on the leadership team alongside the other three founders. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Key Milestones
Incorporation as Tethys Solutions in San Jose
Mihir Shukla, Neeti Mehta Shukla, Ankur Kothari and Rushabh Parmani incorporated Tethys Solutions, LLC in San Jose, California, selling software that recorded and replayed repetitive desktop work.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRenamed Automation Anywhere, Inc.
The company rebranded from Tethys Solutions to Automation Anywhere, Inc. as its product moved from single-desktop macros to server-managed automation across many workstations.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgFirst Imagine customer conference
Automation Anywhere held its first Imagine customer and partner event in New York on May 24 and 25, 2017, and ran a second Imagine in Bengaluru in September of the same year.
Source: automationanywhere.comBot Store opens as an RPA bot marketplace
Launched in London in March 2018, Bot Store offered prebuilt, plug and play bots from Automation Anywhere and partners including EY and Genpact, cutting the time needed to put an automation into production.
Source: prnewswire.com$250M Series A at a $1.8B valuation
After fifteen years without institutional equity, the company raised $250 million on July 2, 2018 led by New Enterprise Associates and Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, with General Atlantic and World Innovation Lab, at a $1.8 billion post-money valuation.
Source: cnbc.comSoftBank Vision Fund adds $300M
In November 2018 the SoftBank Vision Fund invested $300 million as an extension of the Series A, taking the round to $550 million and the post-money valuation to $2.6 billion.
Source: techcrunch.comAcquisition of Klevops in Paris
Automation Anywhere acquired Klevops SAS of Paris in August 2019 to orchestrate work between employees and bots, the technology behind the attended automation interface it later sold as Automation Co-Pilot.
Source: prnewswire.comEnterprise A2019 launches as a web-based platform
In October 2019 the company shipped Enterprise A2019, a cloud-native browser-based rewrite that it said added more than 175 features across 40 product capabilities and ran on premises or in public, private and hybrid clouds.
Source: automationanywhere.com$290M Series B at a $6.8B valuation
Salesforce Ventures led a $290 million Series B announced on November 21, 2019, with SoftBank Investment Advisers and Goldman Sachs participating, at a $6.8 billion post-money valuation.
Source: prnewswire.comPandemic restructuring and workforce reduction
In April 2020 Automation Anywhere cut jobs and restructured parts of the company, saying the COVID-19 pandemic and the change it brought to the global economy required it to adjust operations.
Source: axios.comEnterprise A2019 rebranded Automation 360
In March 2021 the company introduced Automation 360 as the brand for its unified cloud-native platform and widened deployment across AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud regions.
Source: prnewswire.comAcquisition of FortressIQ for process discovery
Announced in December 2021, the FortressIQ deal added computer vision process discovery that maps how work is done across applications and turns it into automation candidates. Terms were not disclosed.
Source: prnewswire.comStart of an unbroken non-GAAP profitable run
The quarter ended October 31, 2023 began the run of non-GAAP profitable quarters with positive free cash flow that the company counted as ten by the quarter ended January 31, 2026.
Source: automationanywhere.comAI plus Automation Enterprise System and AI Agent Studio
At Imagine 2024 in Austin in June 2024 the company unveiled an AI plus Automation Enterprise System with AI Agent Studio, letting customers build AI agents on their chosen foundation models and have them act across enterprise systems.
Source: prnewswire.comAcquisition of Aisera
On November 4, 2025 Automation Anywhere acquired Aisera and its team of more than 100 AI engineers, adding self-service AI agents for IT service management, HR and customer service. Terms were not disclosed.
Source: prnewswire.comOpenAI collaboration and a tenth profitable quarter
Reporting the quarter ended January 31, 2026, Automation Anywhere recorded its tenth consecutive non-GAAP profitable quarter, said AI products were 61% of software bookings, and announced a collaboration with OpenAI on reasoning models that execute business processes.
Source: automationanywhere.comMajor Acquisitions
Klevops
2019Acquired Klevops SAS of Paris in August 2019 to orchestrate work between employees and software bots in contact centres and back-office banking teams.
FortressIQ
2021Announced in December 2021, the acquisition of San Francisco process discovery company FortressIQ added computer vision that maps end-to-end workflows without log or API integrations.
Aisera
2025Acquired on November 4, 2025 to add Aisera's self-service AI agents for IT service management, HR and customer service, along with a team of more than 100 AI engineers.
Keep researching Automation Anywhere
Automation Anywhere Company History FAQ
When was Automation Anywhere founded and what was its original name?
It was incorporated in 2003 in San Jose, California as Tethys Solutions, LLC by Mihir Shukla, Neeti Mehta Shukla, Ankur Kothari and Rushabh Parmani, and took the Automation Anywhere name in 2010.
How did Automation Anywhere fund its first fifteen years?
From customer revenue. The company took no institutional equity between its founding in 2003 and the $250 million Series A announced on 2 July 2018.
How much did Automation Anywhere raise in 2018?
$550 million in total: $250 million in July led by New Enterprise Associates and Goldman Sachs Growth Equity at a $1.8 billion post-money valuation, then a $300 million SoftBank Vision Fund extension in November that lifted the valuation to $2.6 billion.
When did the Bot Store launch?
March 2018, announced in London. It offered prebuilt, plug and play bots from Automation Anywhere and partners including EY and Genpact, and passed 100,000 downloads within 19 months.
When did the platform move to the browser?
October 2019, with Enterprise A2019, a cloud-native browser-based rewrite that the company said added more than 175 features across 40 product capabilities. It was rebranded Automation 360 in March 2021.
What did the Klevops and FortressIQ acquisitions add?
Klevops, acquired in August 2019, coordinated work between employees and bots and became the attended interface later sold as Automation Co-Pilot. FortressIQ, announced in December 2021, added computer vision process discovery. Neither price was disclosed.
When did Automation Anywhere become profitable?
It has reported consecutive non-GAAP profitable quarters with positive free cash flow since the quarter ended 31 October 2023, reaching ten by the quarter ended 31 January 2026 and three consecutive years by September 2026.
What has changed since 2024?
At Imagine 2024 in Austin the company launched AI agents and AI Agent Studio and named the category Agentic Process Automation. It acquired Aisera in November 2025 for service desk agents, announced an OpenAI collaboration in early 2026, and introduced EnterpriseClaw at Imagine 2026 in Dallas.
When was Automation Anywhere founded?
The company was founded in 2003 (originally named Tethys Solutions) in San Jose, California, long before "Robotic Process Automation" became a massive corporate buzzword.
Related Companies
Compare Automation Anywhere History With Competitors
Related Strategic History
Compare founding milestones and corporate evolution
Explore Automation Anywhere
Core profile pages, founders and related research hubs for this company.