Alastair Bathgate and David Moss founded Blue Prism in 2001 in Warrington. The company sold software robots that do repetitive back-office work in banks and other large firms. Its first product, Automate, arrived in 2003.
Blue Prism says it coined the phrase robotic process automation in 2012, a decade after it was founded. Competitors today include UiPath, Automation Anywhere and Microsoft Power Automate.
The company listed on AIM on 18 March 2016 at £48.5 million, and its shares rose 44% on day one. In 2019 it raised new capital and bought Thoughtonomy for up to $100 million. Revenue was £141.4 million in 2020.
Bathgate stepped down as CEO in April 2020 and Jason Kingdon took over. SS&C completed its takeover on 16 March 2022 for about £1.25 billion. The business now runs as SS&C Blue Prism.