Lovable Says It’s Nearing 8 Million Users As The Year-old Ai Coding Startup Eyes More Corporate Employees

Lovable, nan Stockholm-based AI coding platform, is closing successful connected 8 cardinal users, CEO Anton Osika told this editor during a sit-down connected Monday, a awesome jump from nan 2.3 million progressive users number nan institution shared successful July. Osika said nan institution — which was founded almost precisely 1 twelvemonth agone — is besides seeing “100,000 caller products built connected Lovable each azygous day.”

The metrics propose accelerated maturation of nan startup, which has raised $228 cardinal successful full backing to date, including a $200 cardinal information this summertime that weighted nan institution astatine $1.8 billion. Rumors person swirled successful caller weeks — perchance sparked by its ain investors — that caller backers want to put astatine a $5 cardinal valuation, though Osika said nan institution isn’t superior constrained and declined to talk fundraising plans.

Speaking to maine connected shape astatine nan Web Summit arena successful Lisbon, Osika notably didn’t stock different number: Lovable’s existent yearly recurring revenue. The institution deed $100 cardinal successful ARR this June, a milestone it trumpeted publicly. But questions person emerged since astir whether nan vibe coding roar is sustainable.

Research from Barclays this summer, on pinch Google Trends data, showed that postulation to immoderate of nan buzziest services, including Lovable and Vercel’s v0, had declined aft peaking earlier this year. (Traffic to Lovable was down 40% arsenic of September, according to nan Barclays analysts.) “This waning postulation begs nan mobility connected whether app/site vibecoding has peaked retired already aliases has conscionable had a spot of a lull earlier liking ramps up,” they reportedly wrote successful a statement to investors.

Still, Osika insisted retention remains strong, citing much than 100% nett dollar retention — meaning users’ walk much complete time. He besides said nan institution has “just passed” nan 100-employee people and is now importing activity talent from San Francisco to bolster its Stockholm headquarters.

Lovable emerged from GPT Engineer, an open-source instrumentality Osika built that went viral among developers. But he says he quickly realized nan bigger opportunity laic pinch nan 99% of group who don’t cognize really to code. “I woke up a fewer days aft building GPT Engineer and I realized, look, we’re going to reimagine really you build software,” Osika said. “I biked to my co-founder’s place, and I said, I person this awesome idea. I woke him up.”

The level has attracted an eclectic personification base. More than half of Fortune 500 companies are utilizing Lovable to “supercharge creativity,” according to Osika. At nan aforesaid time, he said, an 11-year-old successful Lisbon built a Facebook clone for his school, while a Swedish duo is making $700,000 annually from a startup they launched 7 months agone connected nan platform.

“What I perceive from group trying Lovable is, ‘It conscionable works,’” Osika said, crediting what he described arsenic Swedish creation sensibility.

Security remains a thornier rumor for nan vibe coding sector. When I raised a caller incident successful which an app built pinch vibe coding devices leaked 72,000 images into nan wild, including GPS information and personification IDs, Osika acknowledged nan problem.

“The portion of nan engineering statement wherever we’re moving nan quickest connected hiring is information engineers,” he said, adding that his extremity is to make building pinch Lovable “more unafraid than building pinch conscionable human-written code.” In fact, he said, earlier users tin deploy, Lovable now runs aggregate information checks, though nan level still requires users building delicate applications — banking apps, for lawsuit — to prosecute information experts, conscionable arsenic they would pinch accepted development.

Osika was likewise matter-of-fact erstwhile I asked astir title from OpenAI and Anthropic, nan AI giants whose models powerfulness Lovable but that person besides released their ain coding agents. He sees nan marketplace arsenic large capable for aggregate winners. “If we tin unlock much quality productivity and quality agency . . . and conscionable driving nan alteration truthful that anyone tin create if they person bully ideas, [and] build businesses connected apical of that, that should beryllium celebrated, sloppy of whoever does that.”

It’s a decidedly collegial stance successful an manufacture not known for it, though Osika has engaged successful immoderate ray social media sparring pinch Amjad Masad of competitor Replit. Still, he said, his attraction remains connected building “the astir intuitive acquisition for humans” alternatively than obsessing complete rivals.

Osika described Lovable’s ngo arsenic building “the past portion of software” — a level wherever everything a merchandise statement needs, from knowing users to deploying mission-critical features, tin beryllium done done a elemental interface.

“Demo, don’t memo,” a celebrated building among merchandise leaders, captures really companies now usage Lovable, he said. Employees tin now quickly prototype ideas alternatively than penning agelong presentations, past trial them pinch early users earlier committing resources.

For each nan hypergrowth and investor attention, Osika — dressed simply successful a beige T-shirt and matching button-down, floppy hairsbreadth framing his look — appeared very overmuch astatine ease. The 30-something erstwhile particle physicist, who was nan first worker astatine Sauna Labs earlier founding Lovable, has gone from open-source developer to venture-backed laminitis to must-have convention impermanent successful accelerated succession. Yet he seemed much willing successful discussing European activity civilization than dwelling connected his company’s trajectory.

“What I attraction astir is that everyone who’s astatine nan company, they’re ngo driven, they really attraction astir what they’re doing and really we arsenic a squad succeed,” he said, pushing backmost against Silicon Valley’s intensifying hustle culture. “The champion group successful my squad today, astir of them, they person kids, and they really, really attraction astir what we’re doing. They’re not moving 12 hours, six days a week.”

Though he added: “Although it’s a startup, truthful they’re astir apt moving much than astir jobs.”