ServiceNow to buy robotic process automation startup Intellibot

Cloud-based digital workflow technology provider ServiceNow has signed an agreement to acquire Hyderabad-headquartered robotic process automation (RPA) company Intellibot. 

The Santa Clara-based company expects to complete the acquisition in the second quarter of this financial year. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

The arrival of Intellibot will extend its core workflow capabilities by helping customers automate repetitive tasks, ServiceNow said in a statement. 

The company said it will build Intellibot's capabilities natively into its Now Platform to enable easy integration of both modern and legacy systems that will drive productivity and strengthen existing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) efforts.  

“Our customers represent nearly 80% of the Fortune 500, and the vast majority are trying to drive automation across a mix of legacy and modern applications. With Intellibot, we will extend ServiceNow’s ability to help customers connect systems so they can easily automate workflows and drive productivity,” Josh Kahn, SVP of Creator Workflow Products at ServiceNow, said. 

It recently introduced Quebec, the latest version of its Now Platform, which offers a set of low-code app development tools along with added AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) capabilities to power its digital transformation initiatives.  

According to the company, Intellibot will complement its existing AI and ML, integrations, low-code development, process mining, process automation, chatbot, and virtual agent capabilities. 

“Our RPA combined with ServiceNow workflows will help businesses better connect disparate systems to accelerate innovation and thrive in a new world of work,” Srikanth Vemulapalli, CTO and co-founder of Intellibot, said. 

ServiceNow said the acquisition supports its broader commitment to the Indian market where it plans to develop two new data center facilities by the first quarter of 2022. India hosts ServiceNow’s second largest research and development center. It plans to double its staff in the country within the next three years.

In February last year, ServiceNow announced the acquisition of Passage AI, a Mountain View, California-based conversational AI platform to advance its deep learning AI capabilities and help support all major languages across the company’s Now Platform and products.

Intellibot was founded by CEO Raghu Alekh Barli, Srikanth Vemulapalli, and COO Kushang Moorthy in 2015. The startup was part of the fourth cohort of the SAP Startup Studio programme.