Emergent, an artificial intelligence startup founded by brothers Mukund Jha and Madhav Jha, has raised USD 130 million in a Series C funding round at a valuation of USD 1.5 billion, catapulting it into unicorn territory. The round was led by Creaegis with MNI Ventures-Claypond Capital and Sentinel Global joining as co-lead investors. Existing backers Khosla Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed, and Y Combinator also participated.

The company was valued at USD 300 million during its Series B round in January 2026, meaning its valuation has quintupled in under seven months. Total capital raised now stands at USD 230 million.

What You Need to Know

  • Emergent raised USD 130 million at USD 1.5 billion valuation, up from USD 300 million in January
  • Founded in 2024 by brothers Mukund and Madhav Jha
  • Platform lets users build software using natural language prompts
  • Over 12 million applications built on the platform to date
  • Available in 190 countries, one-third of revenue from the US
  • Plans to build a full-fledged operating system for end-to-end business automation

What Emergent Does

Emergent enables individuals and small businesses to build custom software using natural language prompts through its agentic AI platform. Users describe what they need in plain English, and the platform generates production-ready applications without requiring programming knowledge.

Co-founder Mukund Jha said the software requirement for every business is different, and for the first time with AI, the company can potentially serve millions of customers at almost zero marginal cost. He cited the example of a truck fleet owner in the United States who previously coordinated operations manually over WhatsApp but built a mobile application using Emergent for all his drivers. The truck owner used to pay around USD 25,000 annually for software and now pays USD 100 per month for the application he built himself.

The Market Opportunity

Custom software development traditionally costs between USD 50,000 and USD 500,000, putting it out of reach for most small businesses. Emergent delivers similar solutions for USD 1,000 to USD 5,000. Applications built on the platform include digital storefronts, marketplaces, ERP systems, CRM software, and financial dashboards.

Since its launch, more than 12 million applications have been built on the platform, with users predominantly comprising individuals and small businesses. The company is now available in 190 countries, with roughly one-third of its revenue from the United States, another third from Europe, and about 9 percent from India.

What Is Next

Emergent plans to use the fresh capital to hire talent across the United States and India, accelerate product development, and expand its go-to-market efforts. The company's long-term vision is to build a full-fledged operating system that will allow businesses to automate their operations end-to-end.

Prakash Parthasarathy, Managing Partner at Creaegis, said small businesses today have a historic moment to build, automate, and operate using autonomous platforms and address their disadvantages from the previous era. He called Emergent's platform a tool that enables every entrepreneur to embrace this change with production-grade software and automation.

The Founders

Mukund and Madhav Jha founded Emergent in 2024. Mukund previously held product leadership roles at major tech companies, while Madhav brought deep engineering experience. Their background, combined with backing from marquee investors including Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, and Y Combinator, positioned Emergent for rapid growth from the start.

Bottom Line

Emergent's rapid ascent from USD 300 million to USD 1.5 billion valuation in seven months reflects the market's appetite for agentic AI platforms that put software development power into the hands of non-programmers. If the company delivers on its operating system vision, it could become a major force in how small businesses build and manage their digital infrastructure.