Emergent becomes unicorn with $130M Series C funding round
The AI app-building startup hit $120 million in annualized revenue and crossed 200,000 paying customers on its way to a billion-dollar-plus valuation
Emergent, the AI-powered software development platform founded by twin brothers Mukund and Madhav Jha, has closed a $130 million Series C round that officially pushes it into unicorn territory. The company now boasts a $120 million annualized revenue run rate and more than 200,000 paying customers.
Emergent’s platform lets users build, test, and deploy full-scale web and mobile applications using natural language descriptions.
From zero to unicorn in record time
The company was founded in 2024, raised a $23 million Series A in September 2025 led by Lightspeed, then followed up with a $70 million Series B in January 2026 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Khosla Ventures. That Series B valued the company at $300 million post-money, a 3x jump from its Series A valuation of roughly $100 million.
Revenue growth tells the same story. As of January 2026, the company reported about $50 million in annualized recurring revenue, with an internal target to surpass $100 million by April 2026. The latest figure of $120 million in annualized revenue suggests they exceeded that target. Going from $50 million ARR to $120 million in a matter of months is the kind of growth curve that makes VCs reach for their checkbooks with both hands.
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Emergent claims more than five million users across 190-plus countries, though the 200,000 paying customer figure is the more meaningful metric. That conversion rate, roughly 4% of total users becoming paying customers, is solid for a developer-focused platform in growth mode.
Emergent competes directly with several well-funded players in the AI-assisted development space, including Lovable, Cursor, and Replit. The company is headquartered across the San Francisco Bay Area and Bengaluru. The Jha twins previously worked at Dunzo, the Indian quick-commerce platform.
What this means for investors watching AI and crypto
The revenue numbers here also set a benchmark. A $120 million annualized run rate with 200,000 paying customers gives Emergent roughly $600 in average annual revenue per paying customer.