Emergent, the Indian startup known for its vibe coding platform, has launched Wingman, a messaging-first autonomous AI agent, to expand into the growing category of software that runs in the background to complete tasks popularized by tools like Anthropic’s OpenClaw and Claude.
The Bangalore-based startup initially gained attention for its Vibecoding platform. The platform competes with tools like Cursor and Replit, allowing users without a technical background to build full-stack applications through natural language prompts. Powered by Wingman, Emergent is now moving from creation to execution, aiming to empower AI agents to handle everyday tasks across tools and workflows.
“The obvious next step for us was, can we help them not only build software, but actually operate more autonomously through software,” said Mukund Jha, co-founder and CEO of Emergent. “Move from software that supports your business to software that can proactively help you run your business.”
Emergent says more than 8 million builders use its Vibecoding platform to create and deploy software, with more than 1.5 million monthly active users. Founded in 2025, the startup raised $70 million at a $300 million valuation in January with backing from investors including SoftBank, Khosla Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Wingman is designed to work through messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, allowing users to assign and monitor tasks through chat. At the same time, agents run in the background across connected tools such as email, calendar, and workplace software. The startup said it can perform routine actions autonomously, but requires user approval for more important steps.
The announcement comes as autonomous AI agents are emerging as a major battleground in the industry, with more companies competing to build tools that can complete tasks on behalf of users. Projects like OpenClaw (formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot) are gaining traction among early adopters, while players such as Anthropic and Microsoft are working to address this space with their own agent-based systems.
Emergent differentiates itself by embedding Wingman into messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Apple’s iMessage, allowing users to interact with agents through chat rather than adopting a new interface. The startup also introduces what it calls “trust boundaries,” allowing agents to perform mundane tasks autonomously while requiring user approval for more important actions. This is intended to address concerns regarding fully autonomous systems.
Jha told TechCrunch that the decision to build Wingman within the messaging platform was driven by how people already work. “A lot of the real work is already done through chat, voice, and email, like asking something, following up, sharing context, and making decisions,” says Jha. “In the future, these will be the main means of collaboration with agents.”
Like many emerging AI agents, Wingman still faces limitations. Jha said the system struggles “with consistency in highly ambiguous situations, messy edge cases, unclear goals, or workflows that require a lot of human judgment.”
Wingman is being rolled out with a limited free trial, after which access will be paid, and existing Emergent users can use the agent through their accounts.
