SBI leads $15m Series A for Singapore's AntWorks

The company will use the capital to advance R&D programs for AI and enterprise robotic process automation (RPA), as well as a sales push into new markets, including China, India, and the Philippines. Expansion efforts are expected to focus on the company's flagship platform ANTstein with support from SBI's existing RPA network in Japan.

"AntWorks' has risen through the ranks of global RPA, automation and artificial intelligence companies with a ferocity that's unprecedented in the industry," Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, said in a statement. "We are excited with the possibilities of ANTstein and look forward to their growth in the Asian region through our joint venture, as well as globally."

Founded in 2015, AntWorks offers AI-enabled RPA equipment that automates repetitive paperwork for enterprise clients as well as a cognitive machine reading engine that is said to be rapidly outdating an existing industry standard known as optical character recognition. The company claims to have a presence in 52 countries.

Automation of clerical work has proven an attractive segment of business process outsourcing (BPO) investment theses in private equity. Previous activity in this area includes J-Star exiting document scanning company Primagest to Orix Corporation and CLSA Capital Partners acquiring Outsourcing Investments, a BPO firm focused on technology-oriented staffing services.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Support services
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Singapore
• SBI Holdings
• Venture