Rocket raises $15M seed round to scale AI app-building globally

Rocket.new, an AI-powered app-building platform founded by Vishal Virani, Rahul Shingala, and Deepak Dhanak, has raised $15 million in a seed funding round led by Salesforce Ventures and Accel, with participation from Together Fund. The platform enables users to create fully functional, production-ready applications from natural language prompts, distinguishing itself from competitors by offering end-to-end app building rather than just code snippets or prototypes. Since its launch just months ago, Rocket.new has attracted over 400,000 users across 180 countries, with more than 10,000 paid subscribers and half a million applications built. The company, originally a pivot from the startup DhiWise, plans to use the funding to enhance R&D, accelerate product development, and expand its global presence, including establishing a new headquarters in Palo Alto, California. Rocket.new aims to scale its annual recurring revenue significantly, targeting $20 to $25 million by the end of the year and $60 to $70 million by mid-2026. Its AI-first approach seeks to streamline app development by eliminating traditional technical barriers and even reducing the need for product managers through its comprehensive agentic system.