Over the past decade, better smartphone cameras have helped platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok turn everyday users into paid creators. Emergent, a San Francisco-based AI-powered coding startup, aims to create the same for app building. Its platform lets anyone, even without coding skills, create apps by simply using prompts.
Now, Emergent has closed a $23 million Series A round led by Lightspeed, with Y Combinator, Together, Prosus, and well-known angels such as Jeff Dean, Devendra Chaplot, and Balaji Srinivasan joining in. Combined with its earlier $7 million seed, the startup now holds $30 million in funding within 90 days of launch.
The capital will fuel platform expansion, user onboarding, and further development of its agent-driven architecture. The company just hit $15 million in ARR and now boasts more than a million apps built.
The brainchild of twin brothers
Emergent was founded by brothers Mukund Jha and Madhav Jha. Mukund, formerly CTO at Dunzo, brought experience in scaling a Google-backed quick commerce platform, while Madhav came from Dropbox with deep infrastructure knowledge. Together, they envisioned a platform that doesn’t just generate code but abstracts the entire development lifecycle, including front-end, back-end, authentication, payments, deployment, and scaling.
The company positions itself as a vibe coding platform where domain expertise outweighs programming skills. Whether you are a store owner, freelancer, or hobbyist, the software lets you create, test, and deploy production-ready apps with minimal friction using autonomous AI agents.
From a Michigan jewellery chain optimising repair pricing to a pain management tool designed by a patient for others like him, these examples showcase how small businesses and individuals can turn ideas into usable software without engineering teams.
Redefines software creation
At its core, Emergent delivers what traditional developer tools never could, including accessibility for everyday entrepreneurs. Its multi-agent orchestration allows specialised agents to pass tasks seamlessly, from code generation to testing to debugging, with long-term memory to keep projects coherent. Each user essentially gets a virtual development team in the cloud, capable of iterating and fixing errors on its own.
This approach could expand the pool of software creators dramatically. Just as Instagram turned smartphone owners into content creators, Emergent wants to turn small business owners into app builders.
Our thoughts
Emergent’s rapid revenue growth and strong backer list show promise, but the real test lies in sustaining user engagement and delivering durable value. If it cracks app discovery and monetisation, it could democratise software development much like Shopify democratised e-commerce. The risk, however, is getting lost in a crowded market of tools with similar ambitions.
“My brother and I built Emergent to equip anyone with an idea and a phone to create software affordably,” shared Mukund Jha, co-founder and CEO. “Emergent addresses the technical friction of starting or growing a business. Now, anyone from small business owners and aspiring founders to creators can bring their vision to life, no matter how complex, at a fraction of the time and cost. As the only vibe coding platform that enables users to build highly customizable, production-ready apps, our platform unlocks new possibilities for everyone – not just software engineers.”
