Emergent, an AI software creation platform that helps founders and business owners build full-stack, production-ready web and mobile applications, has announced a $130 million Series C financing. The round was led by Creaegis, with Claypond and Sentinel Global co-leading and participation from Khosla Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed, and Y Combinator. The round quintuples Emergent’s valuation to $1.5 billion in just four months, making it a unicorn a year after public launch.
As the Middle East accelerates its emergence as a global centre for digital innovation, entrepreneurship and start-up growth, Emergent is bringing AI-powered software creation to a new generation of founders and businesses. The company’s expansion into the region will enable organisations to transform ideas into fully functional applications in minutes without the need for traditional coding expertise. Backed by new funding, Emergent will accelerate its presence across strategic growth markets, including the Gulf, where government-led initiatives such as UAE Vision 2030 and Saudi Vision 2030 are catalysing technology adoption and private-sector innovation. From automating manual processes to launching entirely new digital products, Emergent is making software development accessible to anyone with an idea.
Over 12 million apps have been built on Emergent in the last year, many of them by small business owners and solo entrepreneurs without a technical background. Over half of Emergent’s customers have used it to build software that is critical to powering their businesses, which would not have existed without Emergent’s platform. The UAE has seen: 9,067 apps deployed throughout the region with 938,512 sign-ups.
“The real impact of the AI revolution will be a complete democratisation of who gets to build what software, where they get to build it, and how much it costs,” said Mukund Jha, Emergent Co-Founder and CEO. “It’s about making software development accessible to the people closest to the problem, regardless of their technical knowledge. With a platform like Emergent, the people who have great ideas and deep domain expertise can now build and run the software their business needs to succeed at a fraction of the cost.”
Total worldwide spending on AI is forecast to exceed $2.5 trillion in 2026, a 47% increase over the previous year, according to Gartner. Businesses need more software than traditional development pipelines can supply as a record number of Americans take the leap to start their own company, with 1.56 million new business applications between November 2025 and January 2026 alone. But the skill gap and lack of access to capital are hindering millions of SMBs and solo entrepreneurs’ ability to compete, or even participate, in the market.
Most AI coding and app-building tools help users create websites and lightweight apps. Emergent is built for people who need production-ready software they can rely on to run their business.
“We built Emergent for the non-technical entrepreneur and the small business owner, with 70% of our users having no prior coding experience,” Jha added. “We give these users a new path beyond generic SaaS, slow and expensive dev shops, lightweight prototype tools, or waiting for technical talent to which they may never have access.”
