Ema Raises $77M as AI Agents Replace Enterprise Software

Ema, a startup deploying teams of AI agents to automate corporate processes, has secured $77 million in new funding as artificial intelligence begins competing for budgets traditionally spent on enterprise software and IT services. The Series B round was led by Bengaluru-based Creaegis, with participation from existing backers Accel, Section 32, and Prosus, according to a report published by TechCrunch on September 23, 2026. The financing brings the company's total raised capital to $140 million and pushes its valuation to more than four times what it achieved in its previous funding round in 2024.

The startup now operates with more than 50 active enterprise deals and over 1 million active enterprise users, having processed more than 5 million actions and queries, the report states. Ema's revenue has grown 50-fold over the past two years, while revenue bookings have surpassed $150 million—a figure representing the total value of multiyear contracts including two- and three-year deals. The company's client roster includes NTT DATA, Hitachi, ADP, PwC, Google, KPMG, Wipro, and Microsoft. More than 90% of Ema's customers have expanded beyond their initial use case, with some deploying the technology across dozens of workflows. The startup's net dollar retention rate sits at around 180%, indicating existing customers are spending substantially more over time.

Founded in 2023 by former Google and Coinbase executive Surojit Chatterjee and ex-Okta executive Souvik Sen, Ema deploys what it calls "AI employees"—systems that coordinate multiple AI agents to carry out multi-step business processes across a company's existing applications. Chatterjee told TechCrunch that Ema first "wraps" around an enterprise's existing applications before customers can reduce their dependence on some of those products—and, in some cases, replace them altogether. "Many of our customers are already on the way to replace [large SaaS applications] completely," Chatterjee said, noting that traditional software is "mostly becoming like a database." The company's technology can draw on more than 150 models, including frontier and open source options, while Ema focuses on the domain knowledge, integrations, and orchestration needed to automate business processes end-to-end. Despite taking on work traditionally handled by software and services providers, the report notes, Ema has maintained gross margins close to 80%.

The financing arrives as startups, major AI labs, and established software companies fight to capture enterprise spending that once flowed to traditional software-as-a-service products and IT consulting firms. Ema's model represents a fundamental shift in how companies approach business software: rather than buying specialized applications for each function, enterprises can deploy AI agents that orchestrate tasks across existing systems. The startup benefits from advances made by frontier AI labs like Anthropic and OpenAI, which Chatterjee doesn't view as direct competitors since Ema focuses on domain expertise and integration work rather than building foundational models. The company is also positioned to absorb implementation and consulting work that businesses have historically paid IT services firms to perform, with Chatterjee noting that "a lot of the services companies are working with us" as they "dramatically" change their own business models. Ema charges customers based on task completion and business outcomes rather than software seats or AI token consumption, and the startup requires less human support as its AI systems learn from deployments, helping improve margins over time. Much of the new capital will fund go-to-market expansion, particularly sales and marketing, after the company spent its first years primarily building the product. The Mountain View-headquartered startup has grown to nearly 200 employees with offices in Bengaluru, London, and Vancouver. Having focused primarily on customers in the U.S. and Europe, Ema now plans to expand into new markets over the next year, particularly across Asia-Pacific, South America, and parts of the Middle East. The combination of rapid customer expansion, high retention rates, and strong margins suggests Ema's agent-based approach may reshape how enterprises think about buying and deploying business software in the years ahead. Companies may find themselves choosing between maintaining large software portfolios or consolidating around orchestration platforms that coordinate AI agents across simpler data infrastructure.