Builder.ai: The Unicorn That Broke Its Own Code

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In a world obsessed with speed and scale, Builder.ai promised to make software creation as easy as ordering food online.

It was a vision that felt almost magical and for a while, the tech world believed it.
Backed by Microsoft, bolstered by billion-dollar valuations, and loved by the media, Builder.ai soared.

But in May 2025, that dream unraveled, revealing inflated numbers, tech overstatements, and a founder fighting to buy back his own bankrupt company.

Let’s rewind the tape.

Table of Contents

• The Origin Story: From Wizardry to the World Stage

• The Rise: A Platform for Everyone and Everything

• The Illusion of Growth: Numbers That Didn’t Add Up

• Chaos in the Castle: Leadership Shifts & Layoffs

• The AI That Wasn’t (Fully)

• The Audit Trail: Shifting Numbers and Murky Books

• A Last-Minute Twist: The Founder Wants It Back

• Final Words

The Origin Story: From Wizardry to the World Stage

In 2016, Sachin Dev Duggal, a serial entrepreneur with a background in engineering and economics, founded Builder.ai (then known as Engineer.ai) in London.

His frustration was personal: why did building a basic mobile app still require hiring an expensive development team, learning complex tools, or navigating timelines that stretched for months?

So he came up with a bold idea:

The early pitch was elegant:

• Users pick a template (say, like Uber or Amazon)

• AI would customize it to their needs

• Human developers (mostly in India and Ukraine) would quietly build the rest

• All managed seamlessly via a single platform

It wasn’t purely no-code. It wasn’t entirely AI. But it offered something better: predictability in a chaotic software world.

By 2019, the company had already secured over $30 million in funding. But things truly accelerated in 2022, when Microsoft joined the cap table and helped Builder.ai become a buzzword in the no-code/AI boom.

The Rise: A Platform for Everyone and Everything

Builder.ai didn’t just want to help startups build MVPs. It wanted to become the backbone of software development for every business that didn’t want to manage tech.

Its platform included:

• Builder Studio: The main product - pick templates, customize with AI, get a working app

• Studio Rapid: For prototyping MVPs faster

• Studio Store: Pre-packaged apps for restaurants, ecommerce, etc.

• CloudOps: Cloud hosting and maintenance services

• Natasha: An AI assistant guiding users through the build journey

Every feature screamed automation. Every demo hinted at a future where software engineers might become optional.

By 2023:

• It claimed 500+ enterprise clients

• Microsoft deepened integration with Azure

• It raised another $250 million, hitting a $1.2 billion valuation

• Sachin branded himself “Chief Wizard” - a nod to the company’s magic-like product promise

But as it scaled, cracks began to form beneath the surface.

The Illusion of Growth: Numbers That Didn’t Add Up

By the end of 2024, Builder.ai claimed it had crossed $220 million in revenue for the year. The prior year? Allegedly $180 million.

These numbers were shared with investors, lenders, and the media. But they had a problem: they weren’t real.

In early 2025, during due diligence for a new funding round, investors discovered inconsistencies.

An internal review showed:

• FY24 revenues were closer to $55 million, not $220M

• FY23 revenues? Roughly $45 million, not 180M

The overstatement wasn’t a rounding error - it was off by ~300%. It wasn’t just a financial red flag. It was a complete collapse of trust.

That trust mattered because Builder.ai had recently secured a $50 million loan from Viola Credit and others. When lenders got wind of the discrepancies, they called a default, seized $37 million from the company’s accounts, and pushed the company into insolvency.

Chaos in the Castle: Leadership Shifts & Layoffs

In February 2025, Sachin stepped down as CEO though he stayed on the board as “Chief Wizard.” New CEO Manpreet Ratia, a seasoned operator, was brought in to salvage operations. But his hands were tied. He:

• Laid off 270 employees

• Attempted to slash costs and reorient business lines

• Hinted at raising emergency capital

But the damage was too deep. The brand had lost credibility, and cash had dried up. By May 2025, Builder.ai formally entered insolvency proceedings in the UK.

The AI That Wasn’t (Fully)

For a company that marketed itself as “AI-first,” Builder.ai’s backend looked very... human.

• AI was used in the scoping stage helping users describe their app and calculate estimated costs

• But the actual app development? Still done by teams of engineers

• Employees reported Builder.ai was closer to a managed services firm with a fancy UI

This gap between promise and product became central to the backlash.
“Builder.ai sold AI. But delivered people in the loop and didn’t say it out loud.”

The result? Disillusionment among clients, suspicion among investors, and a shrinking competitive moat in a crowded no-code space.

The Audit Trail: Shifting Numbers and Murky Books

As scrutiny deepened, Builder.ai’s accounting practices also raised eyebrows:

• Frequent changes of auditors for different subsidiaries

• Some subsidiaries audited by firms linked to people known to the founder

• A lack of unified reporting

What should’ve been standard financial hygiene became a detective story.

For a company playing in the enterprise space, this was unacceptable.

A Last-Minute Twist: The Founder Wants It Back

Just weeks into the insolvency process, Sachin announced plans to reacquire Builder.ai through a pre-packaged deal.

He proposed:

• Bringing in $10M to restart core operations

• Raising another $25M to stabilize growth

• Buying back core IP and assets (many of which are pledged to creditors)

But the reaction has been mixed. Some see it as a redemption arc. Others fear it’s just a rebranded rerun of the same playbook.

For now, Builder.ai’s future hangs in the balance. A cautionary tale unfolding in real time.

Final Words

Builder.ai wasn’t a scam — it was a story that grew too fast for its own foundations.

It didn’t sell fake tech.
It sold a future that wasn’t fully ready and wrapped it in buzzwords the world desperately wanted to believe in.

The vision was bold. The ambition was real.
But in the chase to scale, it skipped the boring but necessary: financial discipline, operational truth, and product honesty.

The platform may have helped build apps. But it couldn’t build lasting credibility — and in tech, that's the real infrastructure.

So if there’s one lesson in all of this, it’s this:

And when integrity collapses, even the smartest code can’t debug your business.

If this case study made you see the AI boom a little differently, not just as innovation, but as a mirror for founder discipline - share it with someone betting big on “builder-less” futures.

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