Mukund Jha wins Comeback Kid award after Emergent raises $230 million
Mukund Jha, cofounder and chief technology officer at Dunzo, just won the Comeback Kid Award at the ET Startup Awards 2026.
After Dunzo shut down in 2025, he bounced back with Emergent, an AI platform that's already raised $230 million and is valued at $1.5 billion.
Emergent has helped people build over 12 million apps without needing to code.
Emergent enables no-code apps via chat
Emergent lets anyone create apps just by chatting with its AI (no coding skills needed), which makes building software way more accessible for small businesses and non-techies.
Inspired by his own struggles scaling Dunzo, Jha focused on making things simpler and less expensive.
Now competing with global players like Cursor and Replit, Emergent has reported a $120-million annualized revenue run-rate.
Reflecting on his journey, Jha hopes his story encourages others to keep going after setbacks: "It feels surreal (to receive the award); I would just want to inspire people who have had failures in the past."