Indian AI startup Emergent valued at $1.5 billion in round

Emergent, a startup that helps small businesses build applications using artificial intelligence, has raised $130 million in a round that makes the company one of the few Indian AI startups to hit a unicorn valuation.

The round, led by Creaegis, values the company at $1.5 billion, Emergent said in a statement on Wednesday. Claypond and Sentinel Global also co-led the round, which also got participation from Khosla Ventures, SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed, and Y Combinator.

More than 12 million AI applications have been built with Emergent’s platform, according to the company, which has operations in Bangalore.

India is positioning itself to benefit from the AI boom, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraging home-grown technology and showcasing the country’s vast population and engineering talent as assets to global technology companies. In February, world leaders, tech moguls and investors met for the India AI Impact Summit to raise the country’s profile.

Still, AI startups that have reached a unicorn valuation of more than $1 billion are still relatively rare. In addition to Emergent, others include data center operator Yotta Data Services Pvt. and Sarvam AI, which makes AI models tailored to Indian languages and cultures.

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