UK app building start-up raises £76m to expand operation

Builder.ai said the cash would be used to develop the company that helps businesses build apps with limited or no coding knowledge.

Mobile phone app building firm, Builder.ai, has raised 100 million dollars (Gareth Fuller / PA) (PA Archive)

A British AI start-up has raised 100 million dollars (£76 million) to expand its business that aims to help customers build apps with no knowledge or experience of coding.

The Series C funding round brings Builder.ai’s total funding to 195 million dollars (£148 million) since it launched in 2016.

Bosses said they plan to use the investment to help organisations use AI to build apps and software at a faster rate and cheaper than traditional human teams.

Builder.ai has spearheaded a new category in the low-code/no-code industry with an innovative business model and clarity of vision, fuelling its 300% growth in the last year

Jeff Horing, Insight Partners

It will invest the cash in growth measures such as improving AI and automation capabilities, developing its platform and expanding global operations.

The funding round was led by Insight Partners, a New York-based global venture capital and private equity firm, which has previously invested in companies such as Shutterstock and Wix.

Another investment, AirWatch, was bought by VMware for 1.5 billion dollars (£1.1 billion) in 2014.

The start-up’s Series C is the third funding round in 12 months.

Jeff Horing, co-founder and managing director at Insight Partners, said: “Builder.ai has spearheaded a new category in the low-code/no-code industry with an innovative business model and clarity of vision, fuelling its 300% growth in the last year.

“By truly democratising access to complex software, Builder.ai is set to disrupt the core of how applications are built.”

The company has grown almost two-fold in a year, with 450 staff this month compared to 265 in March 2021.

Other investors include US venture capitalist WndrCo and European investor, Lakestar.