A year after launch, Stockholm-based Lovable is racing ahead with a product built for non-coders, corporate teams, and creators—despite questions about hype, retention, and security.
The Growth: From Viral Project to Millions of Users
One year in, Lovable has jumped from 2.3 million users in July to nearly 8 million today, according to CEO Anton Osika. The AI coding platform, born from the viral open-source project GPT Engineer, is now seeing 100,000 new products built daily on its platform.
That scale — paired with $228 million in total funding and a $1.8 billion valuation — has prompted new investor interest. While Osika declined to confirm reports of backers pushing for a $5 billion valuation, he made clear that Lovable isn’t cash-constrained.
From Engineers to Everyone: Democratizing Software Development
Osika says the company’s core mission is to unlock software creation for the 99% who don’t know how to code. That includes Fortune 500 teams, but also solo creators:
- A Lisbon 11-year-old cloned Facebook for his school.
- A Swedish pair now earn $700,000/year from a startup they launched on Lovable just seven months ago.
“We’re going to reimagine how you build software,” Osika said onstage at Web Summit. “What I hear from people trying Lovable is, ‘It just works.’”
Retention, Not Just Reach
Despite Google Trends and Barclays research showing waning traffic since Lovable’s peak, Osika claims net dollar retention above 100%, suggesting existing users are spending more over time.
He also noted Lovable has just passed 100 employees, bringing in talent from San Francisco to Stockholm to help scale both product and security.
Security: A Fast-Moving Concern
Vibe coding — the buzzy genre Lovable helped define — has faced scrutiny over data leaks and app vulnerabilities. A recent app built with such tools leaked 72,000 images and GPS data.
Lovable now runs multiple security checks before deployment and is aggressively hiring security engineers, Osika said. Still, the platform urges caution: teams building sensitive apps must bring in security pros, just like traditional software development.
Competing with Giants? Not Really
Lovable runs on models from OpenAI and Anthropic, which are both launching their own AI coding tools. Yet Osika remains unfazed.
“The market is big enough for multiple winners,” he said. “What matters is unlocking more human creativity and agency.”
He’s focused on usability, not rivalry: creating the “last piece of software” — a single platform where people can ideate, prototype, and launch products with intuitive tools.
The Lovable Workflow: From Decks to Demos
Osika says Lovable is changing how companies work internally. Instead of PowerPoints or memos, employees now prototype with Lovable to test ideas fast.
“Demo, don’t memo,” he said, reflecting a growing trend in product culture to show rather than tell.
Startup Success Without the Burnout
Despite Lovable’s breakneck growth, Osika champions a European approach to work-life balance. Many top team members are parents who “really care” about their work, without clocking extreme hours.
“They’re not working 12 hours, six days a week,” he said. “Although it’s a startup… so they’re probably working more than most jobs.”
AI coding startup Lovable is nearing 8 million users and reshaping who can build software — from kids to Fortune 500 teams. Founder Anton Osika is betting on intuition, security, and creator empowerment, even as the AI hype cycle cools and competition heats up.
