There will most likely be a celebratory trip to the pub on the cards for the co-founders behind Manchester AI firm Peak, following its sale to AI giant UiPath today.
Richard Potter, David Leitch and Atul Sharma have come a long way since launching the business in 2015, after sketching out the initial idea behind Peak on a pub napkin.
The idea? It was all about finding a way to “democratise the power of AI” and “put it in the hands of everyone”. The co-founders have kept that pub napkin to this day, which we’re sure will be a very valuable memento as Peak’s AI platform now optimises inventories and pricing for global industry leaders including Nike, Molson Coors, Marshalls and Eurocell.
READ MORE: “Supercharging AI automation” – Manchester’s Peak acquired by Nasdaq-listed tech group
Prolific North has followed Peak’s impressive journey from the beginning as the company soared from start-up to scale-up, so we’ve decided to take a look back at Peak’s success to where it is today.
“We spotted a gap in the market”
“While there were a lot of companies out there doing things with AI and data analytics, we felt that none of them were doing it quite right. We spotted a gap in the market for a “full stack” enterprise AI platform, with an outcome-focused service built around it. We have since pioneered the creation of a new category of product – the enterprise artificial intelligence system,” Richard Potter told Prolific North in 2019, on why the trio first launched Peak.
He explained how the business had grown “exponentially”, securing over £5m in Series A investment funding. Peak’s former offices at Bruntwood SciTech’s Neo building even came second in Prolific North’s Inspired Spaces North initiative back in 2018.
Peak then began to expand its presence outside of its Manchester HQ with offices in Jaipur in India, and Edinburgh with around 70 staff in total at the time.
Now, that figure is more around the 400 mark, with at least 200 staff based in Manchester and the rest spread across offices in New York, London, Australia as well as Jaipur, Mumbai and Pune in India.
“We are still on a growth trajectory and hiring people into roles that are going to enable that growth,” David Leitch, co-founder and chief information officer at Peak, told Prolific North during a visit to the company’s former offices back in 2022.
“We’ve run out of space!” he added at the time, as the company prepared to move to new offices at Manchester Goods Yard at Enterprise City.
It wasn’t just growth in talent or offices – Peak also raised $119 million in investment following a $75 million Series C funding round in 2021, led by the Softbank Vision Fund II alongside existing investors Praetura Ventures, MMC Ventures, Oxx, Arete and Octopus Ventures.
And Manchester has played a key part in the company’s success too. “We were co-located in the same building as Tech Nation in the very early days, so that meant that our ears were to the ground, we knew what was happening and we entered the rising stars competition. We feel really invested in the scene,” said David Leitch in 2022.
On the office move to Manchester Goods Yard, Leitch continued: “Co-locating with some of the tech companies that we admire, we work closely with and wanting to be part of a community with, are all converging in that part of town. I don’t think there is a hub at the moment that reflects it.
“There are a lot of benefits to starting a business in Manchester.”
Attracting the attention of a global AI giant
Today marks an “exciting milestone” for Peak’s impressive growth as the news landed that $424m turnover UiPath had acquired the business.
UiPath, which now has 50 offices around the world, was founded in Romania back in 2005 and has since become one of the biggest names in robotic process automation (RPA).
Daniel Dines, who co-founded UiPath in 2005 and was reappointed as CEO last year, said the acquisition of Peak will “accelerate” its mission to strengthen its vertical AI solutions strategy.
For Richard Potter, CEO and co-founder of Peak, being part of UiPath means the business can “scale globally” and reach new sectors.
“Joining forces with UiPath is the perfect next step for Peak at this stage of our journey, and I couldn’t be more excited. As automation and agentic AI converge, we’re entering a new era of possibilities for the enterprise.”
In a statement on Peak’s website, its co-founders added that the AI firm’s ‘core technology, team and vision remain unchanged’ and now it has the backing of “one of the most respected” AI and automaton companies in the world.
The trio also hailed the tech ecosystem in Manchester: “One of the things we’re most proud of at Peak is that we’ve built this company outside of the traditional enterprise software hubs, proving that world-class AI and enterprise technology can thrive in places like Manchester and Jaipur. From day one, we’ve been committed to fostering innovation, creating jobs and building a global AI leader from these incredible cities.
“This milestone is not just a success for Peak – it’s a testament to the talent, ambition and growing tech ecosystems in both Manchester and Jaipur.”
