May 23 2025 – British tech startup Builder.ai, once a prominent player among the UK’s most highly – funded tech ventures, has declared that it is entering bankruptcy proceedings.
Headquartered in London, Builder.ai specialized in leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline the development of applications and websites. The company boasted that its technology could make the development process “as easy as ordering a pizza.” With the backing of several top – tier investors, including Microsoft and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Builder.ai had secured over $500 million in cumulative funding.
During a company – wide conference call on Tuesday, Builder.ai informed its employees that it was filing for bankruptcy. The company confirmed to the Financial Times that its main subsidiary, Engineer.ai Corporation, “would initiate bankruptcy procedures and appoint an administrator to oversee the company’s affairs.”
Earlier this year, the company’s founder, Sachin Dev Duggal, stepped down from his role as chief executive officer. However, he retained a seat on the board and took on the title of “Chief Wizard.” In April, the new CEO, Manpreet Ratia, announced that the company had revised its 2023 revenue downwards to $140 million and had also reduced its revenue forecast for the second half of 2024 by 25%.
According to insiders, at Tuesday’s all – staff meeting, Ratia stated that the company’s financial situation had deteriorated beyond repair due to historical issues and past decisions. Additionally, the company’s major creditors had declared it in default and frozen its cash reserves.
Ratia further revealed that despite having secured 50millionindebtfinancinglastOctoberandraisinganadditional75 million in March this year to repair its balance sheet when he joined the company, Builder.ai was still burdened with significant debts. These included an 85milliondebttoAmazonanda30 million debt to Microsoft. He mentioned that the cash in the company’s UK and US accounts was almost depleted. When he attempted to transfer funds from the Singapore bank account to pay employee salaries, the funds were frozen by creditors, leaving the company unable to disburse wages.
As previously reported by the Financial Times, Duggal had attracted attention due to his involvement in a high – profile criminal investigation in India, along with several other legal disputes. Although Duggal insisted that he had done nothing wrong in the Indian case and his lawyer claimed he was merely a witness, these incidents had a negative impact on the company’s reputation and operations.
A source familiar with Builder.ai said that a preliminary report from an internal investigation into the company’s past financial activities had been submitted last week.
