Adobe buys Rilo: the AI workflow startup that hit 10,000 users in months
Adobe acquired Rilo, an Indian AI automation startup, less than a year after it launched. Financial terms were not disclosed.
What Rilo Built
Rilo was founded in September 2025 by IIT Bombay batchmates Dhruv Jaglan and Georgi Boby. The platform lets non-technical users describe complex workflows in plain English and have AI agents build and execute them across hundreds of tools. It evolved into what the founders called an ‘AI employees’ platform for marketing and go-to-market teams, covering competitive intelligence, prospecting, LinkedIn outreach, Reddit marketing, social content, and campaign research. The product was described as an early competitor to Claude Cowork.
The startup crossed 10,000 users within months of launch and raised funding from Peak XV Partners and Z47/DeVC at a reported $10 million valuation.
Why Adobe Moved
This is Adobe’s second known acquisition of an Indian company, following its purchase of generative AI video company Rephrase.ai in 2023. The deal adds a technical team that includes IIT Bombay computer-science graduates, with one team member, Bhavesh Dhingra, having placed AIR 2 in JEE Advanced 2016. Jaglan previously co-founded AI recruitment platform Babblebots.ai, and Boby led technology at cooking-robotics company CloudChef.
The acquisition comes as Anthropic has launched Claude for marketers and other frontier AI companies push deeper into marketing use cases. Adobe says Rilo’s automation capabilities will operate across a larger enterprise surface for its customers.
“Their workflow builder product was way ahead of the curve and shall be extremely valuable to a giant like Adobe in enhancing customer experience and productivity,” said Rahul Gupta, Managing Partner at Day Zero Ventures, an investor in Rilo.
The Operator Takeaway
A startup that launched in September 2025 and was acquired before its first birthday is a useful data point for where enterprise software budgets are flowing. Agentic marketing automation, specifically the ability to wire up AI agents across GTM workflows without engineering help, is attracting both user traction and acqui-hire interest at speed.
I’m founder of BizStack at Cagri Sarigoz LLC and a passionate advocate for entrepreneurs.
With over 14 years in tech, marketing, and AI, including my role as Head of SEO at CitizenShipper and co-founder of TaleBot at Intale AI, I’m dedicated to sharing genuine, useful product insights and tips.
At BizStack, I aim to cut through the digital noise to provide clear, actionable advice.
And more than all else, I’m a father to a (always) little girl and a husband.
Contact me at [email protected] for assistance.
