Emergent, a year-old Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup founded by Dunzo co-founder Mukund Jha, is positioning itself around the idea that the next phase of software creation will be driven by non-programmers building full-fledged applications using AI, rather than developers writing code line by line.
The company positions itself as a counterpoint to the first wave of so-called vibe coding platforms, which promised rapid application creation but often fell short when it came to building production-grade software. In an interaction with Fe, Jha said Emergent’s focus has been on reliability and real-world deployment, rather than quick demos.
The platform allows users to describe what they want in natural language, after which a system of AI agents builds, tests and deploys the application.
An overview of Emergent
Founded in 2025, Emergent has grown rapidly, claiming over 5 million users and about $50 million in annual recurring revenue within seven months of launch. Many of its users, the company says, are small businesses and non-technical professionals building internal tools rather than consumer-facing apps.
Jha said that he traced the idea for the company to conversations with his twin brother, a deep learning researcher, during a stay in San Francisco, when advances in generative AI were beginning to reshape software development. He said the aim was to lower the barriers to creation so that people with domain knowledge but no coding skills could still build usable products.
One such example, he said, was a garment manufacturer in Kolkata who used Emergent to build a custom ERP system in Bengali for a factory employing over 500 workers. Others include marketing, operations and HR teams creating internal tools without relying on developers or external software vendors.
What did Jha say?
He said that Emergent is different from rivals such as Replit and Indian startups like Rocket.new as it focuses on end-to-end deployment, testing and security. The platform uses separate agents to test applications and scan for vulnerabilities before deployment, an area where many AI coding tools have faced criticism. Jha said that risks remain but said improving reliability is a continuous process.
The company recently raised $70 million in a Series B round led by Khosla Ventures and SoftBank, with participation from Prosus, Lightspeed, Together and Y Combinator.
The funding follows a $23 million Series A round raised only months earlier and a strategic investment from Google’s AI Futures Fund. The capital will be used to expand research, engineering and go-to-market teams in Bengaluru and San Francisco, deepen product capabilities and scale distribution.
Jha said the rise of AI-generated software does not diminish the role of developers but changes what they spend time on. “It has actually never been more fun to build,” he said, adding that automation removes low-value work and allows creators to focus on ideas and outcomes.
