Romanian Programmer Turns ‘Crazy Idea’ Into $6 Billion Fortune

Daniel Dines struggled with life in the U.S. after leaving his native Romania in 2001 to work for Microsoft Corp., but the experience created the foundation for one of the world’s biggest fortunes. The software programmer returned to his homeland in 2005 to start the business known today as UiPath Inc., an automation-software maker that debuts Wednesday after raising $1.3 billion in a U.S. initial public offering. Dines, the company’s chief executive officer, controls a stake worth more than $6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

UiPath, which was valued at $7 billion in 2019, is now worth about $30 billion after its shares priced at $56, above a marketed range. That puts Dines among the world’s 500 richest, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The company’s software performs many low-skilled tasks that businesses once outsourced to humans in cheaper-wage countries such as India or the Philippines. Known as robotic process automation technology, the technique takes over repetitive, routine data-entry and processing tasks. Some of its software has been used in hospitals and health-care projects to help with Covid-19, according to UiPath’s website.

UiPath raised $750 million in a funding round led by Alkeon Capital and Coatue that gave it a value of $35 billion, according to a February statement. Altimeter Capital Management, Dragoneer, IVP, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management and funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates also chimed in.

Romanian Programmer Turns ‘Crazy Idea’ Into $6 Billion Fortune, Bloomberg, Apr 22