Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how software is created, and one startup at the forefront of this shift is Emergent. Founded just three months ago by twin brothers Mukund and Madhav Jha, the company has raised $23 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed, with participation from Prosus Ventures, Together Fund, Y Combinator, and a roster of high-profile angels including Jeff Dean, Devendra Chaplot, and Balaji Srinivasan.
This new round brings Emergent’s total funding to $30 million, following a $7 million seed round earlier. With offices in San Francisco and Bengaluru, Emergent is now gearing up to expand its team, accelerate research into AI coding agents, and scale its platform worldwide.
Credits: Inc 42
Who Are the Founders?
Emergent’s founding duo combine deep technical expertise with entrepreneurial grit.
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Mukund Jha, Co-founder and CEO, is a Columbia Engineering graduate and former Google engineer. He previously co-founded Dunzo, the hyperlocal delivery app that became a household name in India.
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Madhav Jha, his twin, is an ex-Amazon AI scientist and has also worked as a Machine Learning Engineer at Dropbox.
Together, the Jhas have set out on a mission: to make software creation accessible to anyone, regardless of technical background.
What Does Emergent Do?
At its core, Emergent is an AI-powered app builder. Users can create production-ready web and mobile apps without writing a single line of code. The platform goes beyond generating prototypes—it handles the entire stack, from backend infrastructure and databases to logins, payments, deployment, and scaling.
This makes it especially appealing to solopreneurs, small businesses, and individuals who want to launch apps but lack technical expertise. In just three months since launch, Emergent claims to have achieved:
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$15 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR)
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Over 1 million users worldwide
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More than 1.5 million apps built on its platform
“It felt like a mission to automate coding as a challenge. Since we began, we’ve seen deep user love. We believe this is a new revolution that could enable a billion people to build whatever they dream of,” said Mukund Jha.
Standing Out in a Crowded Market
Emergent operates in a competitive landscape that includes U.S. startups like Replit, Cursor, and Lovable, all of which focus on AI-powered developer tools. But the Jhas argue that Emergent’s approach is fundamentally different.
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Competitors: Most platforms generate front-end prototypes or coding assistance.
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Emergent: Delivers a full-stack, production-ready app that can be launched, monetised, and deployed instantly.
Another key differentiator is who Emergent targets. Unlike platforms aimed at developers, Emergent is designed for non-developers. The system abstracts all the complexity of coding, letting users focus only on their ideas while AI builds the app.
Monetisation and Global Reach
Emergent monetises through subscription plans ranging from $20 to $200 per month, along with deployment fees for scaling. The platform already serves users in 180 countries, with 20% based in India and the rest spread across the U.S., UK, and Europe.
“Our goal is ambitious—we want to enable a billion people to build on Emergent,” Jha said.
AI Funding Boom
Emergent’s fundraise reflects a larger trend: investors are pouring capital into AI startups at record speed. Lightspeed Partner Hemant Mohapatra summed up the enthusiasm:
“Emergent collapses the complexity of software into a single button anyone can press to ship, scale, earn. We are proud to back them on this journey.”
Meanwhile, other venture firms are scouting aggressively for early-stage AI bets. Peak XV is exploring investments in Claim Health, Cubic, and Theta Software; Elevation Capital is eyeing ScalarField and Sookti AI; while Kalaari and BoldCap are targeting startups like SuperMemory and Sherlocks AI. Many of these sub-$5 million bets are focused on AI agents or human-like companions, showing the breadth of innovation underway.
The Road Ahead
Emergent’s rapid growth underscores the hunger for tools that lower the barriers to software creation. By automating everything from infrastructure to deployment, the company could empower millions of people—creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses alike—to build apps that might never have existed otherwise.
With $23 million in fresh capital, a high-profile set of backers, and a bold vision, Emergent is betting big on a future where building software is as easy as expressing an idea.
