Emergent raises $23 million to scale AI-powered ‘vibe coding’ platform

Emergent, a San Francisco-based AI startup, has raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed, with participation from Y Combinator and other investors. The company, which calls itself the world’s first “vibe coding” platform, aims to make software creation as simple as giving instructions in natural language.

Co-founder and CEO Mukund Jha told CNBC-TV18 that Emergent allows anyone to build mobile apps, web apps, or websites simply by typing instructions in English, Hindi, or any language of their choice. “It’s called vibe coding. You just talk to the AI the way you would talk to a developer, and you never look at the code behind the scenes,” Jha said. “You build the app by giving feedback, just like you would to a developer.”

The company plans to use the fresh capital primarily to expand its team, invest in research, enhance its product, and grow its marketing footprint. “We have one of the best AI teams in the world, and we’re just going to grow that team. We are already a global company—we are in 180 countries—so we’re going to expand our footprint in those countries,” Jha added.

Emergent has already seen rapid adoption, hitting $15 million in annual recurring revenue and more than 1 million users in just 90 days. Jha credited the growth to the sophistication of the platform. “When you come in, it feels magical. You just type what you want to build, and it starts building. We have built one of the world’s most sophisticated coding agents and developed the entire infrastructure from the ground up,” he said.

Looking ahead, Jha said the startup aims to reach about a billion users in the coming years. “Our endgame is that we want anybody with an idea and a phone to be able to build what they want,” he said. “The software industry today is roughly $2 trillion in spend, and that’s only developers building. When non-developers start building, this industry is going to expand a lot, and we want to be at the forefront.”

He also highlighted the broader impact on entrepreneurship. “With AI and tools like ours, we are enabling deep personalisation and customisation for software, for businesses and individuals. The barrier to entry into entrepreneurship is going to become very low,” Jha said.

As competition in AI-powered software creation heats up, Jha said Emergent remains focused on its consumers. “We have one of the best platforms in the world right now, the best coding agent, the best infrastructure, and a fully vertically integrated approach, which gives us a big leap ahead in terms of competition today. We’ll continue to innovate, continue to build fast, and stay ahead of the game,” he added.

Watch accompanying video for entire conversation.