Bellevue, Wash.-based workflow automation company Nintex has acquired EnableSoft, a Robotic Process Automation company that offers bots for handling a business’s basic, repetitive tasks.
It’s Nintex’s second acquisition in seven months as the company seeks to create what it calls a “complete process platform” for streamlining a company’s fundamental business processes without having to know how to code.
In July, the company acquired New Zealand process-mapping firm ProMapp so customers can more easily map out their workflows. And last month, in a direct challenge to DocuSign, Nintex announced a partnership with Adobe to offer automated electronic document signing services.
EnableSoft makes a product called Foxtrot RPA, which uses bots to automate repetitive tasks, such as generating boilerplate financial documents or copying account numbers, addresses and other customer information between databases.
Nintex CEO Eric Johnson said in an interview that the RPA component had been the last missing piece in his company’s offerings. Nintex has specialized in automated processes that streamline a business’s overall workflow — the where, when and how of creating documents and triggering communications between teams, but, until today, didn’t offer bots for handling the most basic tasks.
“Now we can service that end-to-end (process) of everything people are trying to automate,” he said.
Johnson said the EnableSoft acquisition positions Nintex as the only workflow automation company offering process mapping, workflow optimization and bots for businesses that don’t have developers their payrolls. The only other company offering a similar suite of services is Pegasystems, which, unlike Nintex, targets developers, Johnson said.
“If you’re going to go no-code, we’re the only game in town that goes end-to-end,” he said. “We’re it.”
The workflow automation market is valued at $5.22 billion and is expected to grow to just less than $30 billion by 2026, according to a December report from Orian Research Consultants.
Johnson said he expects Nintex to continue snatching up companies, largely for their technology, as it tries to strengthen its position in the marketplace. “I expect us to do one or two deals a year,” he said. “We’re going to be a serial acquirer.”
Nintex, a private company, did not disclose the terms of the EnableSoft deal. Johnson said Nintex is profitable and financed the deal with its own cash “and a small amount of debt.” EnableSoft, which has about 20 employees and more than 600 customers, will keep its Orlando, Fla., offices, which Johnson said will likely become an East Coast hub for sales and customer service.
Nintex posted more than $100 million in revenues last year and expects to reach $150 million in revenues this year. The company has more than 8,500 customers in 90 countries and employs 500 worldwide, including about 140 employees at its Bellevue headquarters. Nintex ranks 12th in the GeekWire 200.
Johnson said Nintex has hired 15 or 20 new employees at its Bellevue offices in the last year and said he was signing a new lease for more space in the Bellevue location just last week.
Investment firm Thoma Bravo purchased a majority stake in Nintex last year and installed Johnson, who had been Nintex’s chief financial officer, as the company’s CEO. Johnson said Nintex has financed its recent spree of acquisitions and partnerships using its own capital and that Thoma Bravo has provided help with planning and strategy for those deals, making it possible for Nintex to acquire companies faster.
The Robotic Process Automation market is expected to grow beyond $5 billion by 2024, according to a Global Market Insights report, and much of the growth will likely come from banking and financial institutions looking to create new accounts and process transactions faster and with fewer errors. RPA systems also make it easier for financial institutions and other companies to keep up with government regulations.
More and more businesses across just about every sector of the economy, including telecommunications, IT, insurance and government, are turning to RPA because bots take the load of managing data, creating proposals and other paperwork off sales and other teams so they can focus on their real jobs, whether it’s consulting, closing more deals or just tracking their hours, according to the report.
In a market report last fall, Reuters characterized RPA’s growth as a potentially “staggering rise.”
Still, companies that don’t employ developers experienced with bots don’t know how to build RPA into their workflows, and that’s holding back wider adoption of the technology. That lack of technical expertise may give Nintex a stronger foothold In the marketplace because EnableSoft deploys bots without having to know how to write code.
“The fact that we were able to get a technology that was powerful and easily used… was huge,” Johnson said.
