Quick Take
- Adobe has acquired Indian AI startup Rilo, founded in September 2025 by IIT Bombay batchmates Dhruv Jaglan and Georgi Boby.
- Rilo raised $1 Mn from Peak XV Partners, DeVC and Day Zero Ventures at a reported $10 Mn valuation, and crossed 10,000 users within months.
- This is Adobe’s second India acquisition after Rephrase.ai in 2023. Rilo will shut down and its six-member team joins Adobe.
Adobe has acquired Rilo, an Indian AI startup, less than a year after it launched. The deal is Adobe’s second known purchase of an Indian company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
TechCrunch first reported the acquisition, and Adobe confirmed it. The company declined to comment beyond that confirmation. The deal covers Rilo’s technology and its six-member team.
Rilo was founded in September 2025 by Dhruv Jaglan and Georgi Boby. The two are batchmates from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Their startup built an AI platform for marketing and go-to-market teams.
What did Rilo build?
Rilo built an AI platform that turned plain English into working automations. A user could describe a task in words. AI agents then built and ran that workflow across connected tools.
The platform handled competitor intelligence, prospecting, content repurposing, sales-call analysis and campaign research. Rilo later described these as “AI employees” for marketing teams. Customers could also build their own workflows instead of using only pre-built ones.
Dhruv Jaglan said more than 10,000 users had built with Rilo within months of launch. That is fast growth for a company barely a year old. The pace likely shaped Adobe’s interest.
How much did Rilo raise before the deal?
Rilo raised $1 Mn from Peak XV Partners, DeVC and Day Zero Ventures. Media reports put the round at a $10 Mn valuation. Adobe did not confirm these figures.
As part of the deal, Rilo’s investors are expected to receive an exit. Adobe is expected to take on some of Rilo’s intellectual property. Rahul Gupta, managing partner at Day Zero Ventures, called Rilo’s workflow builder ahead of the curve.
Gupta said the technology could help Adobe improve customer experience and productivity. Jaglan said Rilo joined Adobe to bring AI to Fortune 500 marketers. Boby said the mission was always to expand AI beyond engineers.
Why did Adobe buy an Indian startup?
Adobe bought Rilo to add AI agents to its marketing tools. The purchase fits a wider race in enterprise software. Technology firms now use AI agents to run marketing work, from content to campaign analysis.
Adobe reported revenue of $23.77 Bn in its 2025 financial year. In marketing software it competes with Canva, OpenAI and Anthropic. Rilo’s agents strengthen Adobe’s hand in that fight.
This is Adobe’s second India deal. It bought Bengaluru generative AI video startup Rephrase.ai in 2023. Adobe has not said where Rilo’s technology will sit inside its products.
What happens to Rilo now?
Rilo will shut down after the acquisition. Its platform will no longer be available to customers. Jaglan said Rilo will help users move their workflows during the shift.
The founders confirmed the deal in posts on LinkedIn. Boby wrote that he was proud of the team and the pace they built at. The move to Adobe, he said, lets the team continue the mission at a larger scale.
What this means for you: A one-year-old Indian startup with 10,000 users and $1 Mn raised became a target for a $23.77 Bn US firm. For founders, an early acqui-hire by a global buyer is now a real path, and speed of adoption is the currency that draws them.
StartupFeed Insight
Adobe paid an undisclosed sum, but the shape of this deal matters more than the price. Rilo raised just $1 Mn and lasted barely a year, yet it built a team and a product Adobe wanted. This is a talent-and-tech buy, not a revenue buy. Watch for more of it. Global software firms are shopping in India for small AI teams that move fast, and IIT alumni networks keep producing them. Expect at least three more sub-$25 Mn acqui-hires of Indian AI startups by large US firms before June 2027, most of them under a year old, and most going straight to shutdown.
— Avinash Mishra, Business Correspondent
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