Baillie Gifford wrote off its stake by 2025; agreed to be acquired by Bosch in 2026 at undisclosed (small) terms
The rise & fall
8 moments · 2014–2026
The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2014
🌱
2014
Founded in Chicago
Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell's next act: predictive-maintenance AI that tells heavy machines when they're about to break.
Wikipedia
2015
🦄
2015
Joins the unicorn club
Barely a year in, with Caterpillar as anchor partner, Uptake is valued north of $1B — the Midwest's proudest startup.
Wikipedia
2017
📈
2017
The peak: $2.3B$2.3B
A Series D led by Baillie Gifford, with Revolution Growth and GreatPoint, crowns the industrial-AI darling.
Wikipedia
2018
💔
2018
Out of the club
Anchor partner Caterpillar pulls out and customers are slow to materialize; the shine comes off fast.
Wikipedia
2019–24
2019–24
Years of shrinking
Layoffs and retrenchment as the celebrated platform hunts for a market that never quite arrives.
TechStartups
2018–24
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2018–24
Glassdoor reviews from those years described a revolving door of executives and cycles of over-hiring followed by layoffs — staff promoted only to be told months later their roles were redundant — and a leadership many felt spent years unable to decide what Uptake actually was.
2025
2025
Baillie Gifford writes it to zero
The Series D lead marks its entire stake off in the year to March 2025.
Baillie Gifford filings
2026
🤝
2026
Acquired by Bosch — terms undisclosed, far below the peak
The $2.3B Midwest champion exits quietly.
TechStartups
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Uptake Technologies, a Chicago industrial-AI startup co-founded by Groupon's Brad Keywell, built predictive-maintenance software for heavy industry and ranked among the Midwest's most celebrated unicorns, hitting a $2.3B valuation in a 2017 Series D led by Baillie Gifford.
Then anchor partner Caterpillar pulled out, customers were slow to materialize, and Uptake shrank for years; Baillie Gifford wrote off its stake by 2025, and Bosch agreed to buy the company in 2026 for undisclosed terms.
Source: Wikipedia / TechStartups / Baillie Gifford filings (Chicago industrial-AI/predictive-maintenance startup founded by Brad Keywell; reached a $2.3B valuation on a 2017 Series D led by Baillie Gifford with Revolution Growth and GreatPoint; Caterpillar pulled its investment, the company laid off staff and shrank for years; Baillie Gifford wrote off its holding in the year to March 2025, and Bosch agreed to acquire Uptake in 2026 at undisclosed terms far below its peak)
