UK-based AI startup Builder.ai is entering insolvency proceedings months after replacing its CEO and restating financial accounts, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Backed by Microsoft, Insight Partners and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Builder — which uses AI to help clients build customised apps — has raised $445m since launching in 2012.
One of the most-hyped UK startups, the unicorn last raised in a $250m round in May 2023 amid the AI boom following the release of ChatGPT.
Employees at the company were informed about serious financial difficulties on a company-wide call on Tuesday, the FT reports. Builder.ai confirmed to the publication that its main unit, Engineer.ai Corporation, “will be entering into insolvency proceedings and will appoint an administrator to manage the company’s affairs”.
Builder.ai said that it was “unable to recover from historic challenges and past decisions that placed significant strain on its financial position”, the FT reported.
Sifted has approached Builder for further comment.
Past “problems”
So-called “chief wizard” Duggal stepped down from his CEO role at Builder in February and later resigned as a director from the company’s UK entity.
Weeks later, the FT reported that the company had relied on an auditor with long-standing links to its founder and in April the company’s new chief said there’d been "problems" under past leadership and it had lowered revenues previously reported for 2023 to $140m.
