Ema raises $77M as AI starts eating into enterprise software and services
Ema has raised $140 million to date and has more than 50 enterprise customers, including Google and Microsoft.
Ema, an artificial intelligence startup founded in 2023, has successfully raised $77 million in a Series B funding round, led by Bengaluru-based venture firm Creaegis. Existing investors Accel, Section 32, and Prosus also increased their stakes during this round. The financing brings Ema's total funding to $140 million and quadruples its valuation from the previous 2024 funding round. The funding comes as AI starts to compete for dollars that businesses traditionally spend on enterprise software and IT services.
Ema's technology, called "AI employees," deploys multiple AI agents to automate corporate processes across HR, IT, and finance. The startup wraps around an enterprise's existing applications, reducing dependence on traditional software products and sometimes replacing them entirely. Ema's founders, former Google and Coinbase executives Surojit Chatterjee and Souvik Sen, believe that AI can eventually reduce companies' reliance on software as a service (SaaS) products.
While major AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are expanding their efforts into the enterprise market, Chatterjee sees Ema's software as more beneficial due to its ability to use over 150 models and focus on domain knowledge, integrations, and orchestration. Ema's approach has already gained traction, with over 50 active enterprise deals, 1 million active enterprise users, and handling more than 5 million actions and queries.
The startup's revenue has grown 50-fold over the past two years, with bookings surpassing $150 million. Over 90% of Ema's customers have expanded beyond their initial use case, deploying the technology across dozens of workflows. Ema's net dollar retention rate is around 180%, meaning existing customers are spending substantially more with the startup over time.
Despite taking on work traditionally handled by software and services providers, Ema has maintained gross margins of close to 80%. The startup's pricing is tied to the completion of tasks and business outcomes, rather than software seats or the number of AI tokens consumed. Ema is now planning to expand its go-to-market operations, focusing on sales and marketing, and looking to expand into new markets across Asia-Pacific, South America, and parts of the Middle East.
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