Ema has obtained $77 million in new capital to broaden its AI-driven platform, which automates workflows in corporate finance, IT, and HR departments. The Series B funding was spearheaded by Bengaluru venture firm Creaegis, with participation from existing backers Accel, Section 32, and Prosus increasing their investments. This infusion raises the company’s total funding to $140 million while pushing its valuation beyond four times its 2024 funding level. (Ema has not revealed its current valuation figure.) According to confirmation given to TechCrunch, the entire round comprised primary equity shares, with no debt instruments or secondary sales involved.
Challenging traditional SaaS with AI-driven workforce solutions
The investment arrives as artificial intelligence increasingly competes for corporate budgets previously allocated to enterprise software and IT services. Competitors now range from emerging startups to established AI research labs and legacy software vendors, all vying for enterprise spending. Launched in 2023 by Surojit Chatterjee—a former executive at Google and Coinbase—and Souvik Sen, formerly of Okta, Ema specializes in deploying what it calls “AI employees.” These systems coordinate multiple AI agents to execute complex, multi-step business operations across existing enterprise applications, rather than performing isolated tasks.
Chatterjee envisions this approach eventually diminishing reliance on conventional software offerings, including SaaS products. The process begins with Ema’s technology integrating with a company’s current applications, he explained, before enabling customers to gradually phase out certain tools, sometimes eliminating them entirely. “Many of our customers are already on the way to replace [large SaaS applications] completely, removing dependency on them, because they are mostly becoming like a database,” Chatterjee said.
While major AI firms have intensified their push into enterprise operations, Anthropic expanding Claude’s integration into core business functions and OpenAI deploying dedicated engineering teams, Chatterjee does not classify them as direct rivals. He told TechCrunch that Ema’s platform leverages over 150 models, including both cutting-edge and open-source systems, while prioritizing industry-specific expertise, seamless integrations, and end-to-end process automation. “Progress in frontier models is actually very beneficial to us,” Chatterjee stated.
Automating IT services through AI-driven workflows
This industry shift suggests a fundamental transformation in how businesses manage operations. As systems grow more self-sufficient, the demand for human intervention in repetitive tasks declines, forcing IT services providers to reassess their strategies. Ema’s model is already demonstrating strong adoption, with over 50 active enterprise contracts, more than 1 million registered users, and a total of 5 million completed actions and queries. Notable clients include NTT DATA, Hitachi, ADP, PwC, Google, KPMG, Wipro, and Microsoft.
In the past two years, Ema reports its revenue has surged 50 times, with total contract bookings exceeding $150 million. Chatterjee clarified that this figure represents the combined value of multi-year agreements, including two- and three-year commitments, rather than annual recurring revenue. He declined to disclose the company’s current annualized revenue metric. Additionally, Chatterjee stated that over 90% of Ema’s customers have adopted additional use cases beyond their initial implementation, with some deploying the technology across dozens of workflows. The company’s net dollar retention rate stands at approximately 180%, indicating that existing clients are increasing their spending with Ema over time.
Global expansion and market diversification
Ema is extending its vision beyond software development alone. According to Chatterjee, AI can now handle implementation, integration, and consulting services that businesses have historically outsourced to specialized firms. Chatterjee said that many service companies are working with the startup. He noted that these clients are changing their business models because they understand the human-forward model may not be the best approach. Despite absorbing functions traditionally managed by software and consulting providers, Ema maintains gross margins near 80%, Chatterjee added, attributing this efficiency to reduced human oversight as its AI systems refine through real-world deployments.
The company also avoids charging based on user seats or AI token consumption. Instead, pricing is structured around completed tasks and measurable business outcomes. Much of the new funding will go toward expanding its go-to-market operations, particularly sales and marketing, after spending its first years largely building the product, Chatterjee said. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Ema now employs nearly 200 people across offices in Bengaluru, London, and Vancouver.
To date, Ema’s primary customer base has been in the U.S. and Europe. However, it now plans to expand into new markets over the next year, particularly across Asia-Pacific, South America, and parts of the Middle East.
