Indian AI coding startup Emergent becomes a unicorn with $130M Series C

Indian AI coding startup Emergent said it raised $130 million in a Series C funding round at a $1.5 billion post-money valuation. The round was led by private equity firm Creaegis. New investors MNI Ventures-Claypond and Sentinel Global participated along with existing backers Khosla Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed and Y Combinator. The deal brings Emergent total funding to $230 million. The startup previously raised a $70 million Series B at a $300 million valuation in January. Co-founder and chief executive Mukund Jha told TechCrunch the company has reached an annual run-rate revenue of $120 million, up 70% in the last four months, and has more than 200,000 paying customers. Jha started Emergent with his brother Madhav Jha, the chief technology officer, in June last year. The company targets entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses that have relied on email, spreadsheets and messaging apps. Customers include trucking companies, factories, construction businesses and property managers. North American customers account for about a third of revenue, Europe another third and the rest from other markets. India accounts for about 8% to 9%. Emergent plans to use the capital to accelerate product development and research, improve the success rate of applications built on its platform and expand go-to-market operations. The company is also considering opening an office in Europe. Emergent has about 200 employees, most in Bengaluru, with a handful in San Francisco. It plans to expand its San Francisco office by 30 to 40 people by the end of the year.