Builder.ai: Human-Assisted AI Platform Lets You Build Tailor-Made Software

Builder.ai: Human-Assisted AI Platform Lets You Build Tailor-Made Software

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Builder.ai is a human-assisted AI that empowers everyone to independently build and operate tech products through two products that work together to be their virtual engineering team. Builder.ai is on a mission to turn ideas into developed products for everyone. Whether you want to build something new or are already operating on the cloud, they empower a single user to achieve more by doing less; and that’s why it says: Build. Run. Scale.

Builder.ai- Company Highlights

Company Name Builder.ai
Headquarter London
Founders Sachin Dev Duggal & Saurabh Dhoot
Founded 2016
Sector AI-Platform Builder
Website builder.ai

Builder.ai- About
Builder.ai- Founders
How was Builder.ai Started
Builder.ai- Company Size & Work Culture
Builder.ai- Name, Logo and Tagline
Builder.ai- Industry Details
Builder.ai- USP and Innovation
Builder.ai- Startup Launch
Builder.ai- Funding
Builder.ai- Business and Revenue Model


Builder.ai- About

Builder.ai offers a platform for entrepreneurs and enterprises to build, run and scale any idea, no knowledge of coding required. They help the world’s best ideas transform into great innovations that in turn support and enhance the work of entrepreneurs and businesses.

Building software can often prove to be complex, risky and inefficient. They level the playing field for companies that recognise the importance of having an online presence, but don’t have the technical knowledge to bring it to life.  They believe that software development should be simple, immediate and efficient to make all kinds of ideas a reality.

Its human-assisted-AI platform lets one create on-demand, tailor-made software using a library of reusable features and a network of verified expert talent from around the world. Their recently launched and globally-recognised platform Studio Store, has been helping SMBs and SMEs amid COVID-19 to access quality software at lower costs and in most cases is delivered to them in 8-10 weeks. Just a few weeks ago, they were awarded at CognitionX 2020 for “Best COVID-19 Innovation for Recovery” and chosen as “the Hottest Startup - AI” at The Europas.

Builder.ai- Founders

Builder.ai is founded by Sachin Dev Duggal & Saurabh Dhoot.

Builder.ai Founders | Saurabh Dhoot & Sachin Dev Duggal
Builder.ai Founders | Saurabh Dhoot & Sachin Dev Duggal

Saurabh and Sachin first met when they were both pursuing their engineering at Imperial College London. As founders, their roles are thorough: going and run right from the big picture down to microscopic detail. Therefore, both of the founders oversee different functions- from strategy to execution- pretty smoothly. Sachin sees it as the beauty of working with his best friend, Saurabh. Not too long ago, they had also co-founded Nivio, a cloud computing startup, taking it to $100mn in evaluation and exiting it after a major strategic sale in 2012.

Their partnership doesn’t end there. Saurabh and Sachin are also passionate about breakthrough technological innovations that have the potential to enhance society and environment. They are also working to bring necessary education to 100 million children within the next 50 years. Their projects keep growing.

How was Builder.ai Started

Four years ago, Builder.ai started out with a dream to be the connection between every great idea and a fully realized product. The ideology behind Bulider.ai was to empower everyone to build their ideas, regardless of their understanding of code. To achieve this, they went back to the drawing board on how software is made today. They looked at best practices across industries, naming-ly what Henry Ford did for the automotive industry with the assembly line.

They are applying this methodology to custom software by employing a human assisted AI to the software assembly line. This system brings together building blocks of frequently used features - such as Facebook login or shopping cart - alongside the best human talent from across the globe to work directly with the customer and ensure the software is built on time without errors.

They started their journey from there and the premise was to make software development accessible to anyone, anywhere. It stemmed from the belief that everyone should be able to unlock their true potential, to make their vision come to life irrespective of what they know, what they have and what they are potentially afraid of.

Builder.ai- Company Size & Work Culture

Builder.ai expanded from 30 employees to over 250 in just 2 years and now has offices in London, Los Angeles, Delhi, Dubai and Tokyo. This level of rapid global expansion had the potential to cause severe rifts in communication; something that wasn’t so much of an issue when it was just a few of them working together. Builder.ai is going through an exciting phase where they are seeing quick yet strategic growth, supporting both active digital markets and those that are ripe for digital transformation.

They work from different parts of the world and the solution to most business challenges is teamwork and constant alignment on goals making ‘precise communication’. A consistent transfer of knowledge and transparency across departments became a priority, so that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals.

Sachin believes having inspirational leadership figures that keep their teams in the know and constantly empowered is critical to this. Video touch-bases, Slack messaging, project management tools are key to successful day-to-day communication, especially nowadays. Besides this, they ensure sending-out department-wide emails regularly, and conducting global town halls each quarter.

Builder.ai- Name, Logo and Tagline

When Sachin and Saurabh founded the company in 2016, they named it Engineer.ai with 2 essential products – DevOps and CloudOps. As Engineer.ai, they did some exemplary work with some of the best brands across the world. They built software that could solve all kinds of problems. Halfway through 2018 they decided to review their identity and conduct a branding activity and in early 2019 brought on board one of the best global creative agencies in London to support.

Builder.ai Logo
Builder.ai Logo 

They wanted to simplify their brand to directly correlate and connect with its product offerings and their customers. That branding session led us to a huge realisation – that a lot of their customers were finding it confusing to deal with three different identities – DevOps, CloudOps and Engineer.ai. They learned that the name ‘Engineer.ai’ as a product in itself wasn’t effective. People aren’t simply looking for an engineer, instead, they’re looking for someone to help them build their dreams.

Hence, they renamed it as Builder.ai and the interpretation is quite simple: they don’t just build software. They help companies build phenomenal, revolutionary, business altering ideas.

Builder.ai- Industry Details

India has established approximately 48 million small businesses over the past decade, nearly double the number of the US. However, unlike the US, most businesses in India are hesitant to invest in digital transformation due to a lack of tech expertise, resources or both. For a country like India, that is the fastest-growing trillion-dollar economy in the world and the fifth-largest overall, a necessary shift to stay competitive is the democratisation of software development so that ideas can transcend borders, compete in the global market and take India to number one.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further nudged Indian decision makers to escalate their focus on harnessing technology in various sectors. Today consumers and businesses are utilizing online channels to promote their products and services and this is helping the country’s tech sector. Technology solutions have helped achieve key results in segments like healthcare, F&B industry, education, salons, etc. In the next 5 years, this trend will continue steadily till every business on the planet is a digital one. It is the only way to crisis-proof your business in uncertain times.

Needless to say, the market opportunity is huge. There are now 574 million active internet users in India, a growth rate of 24 per cent from 2019, according to data from consulting firm Kantar. It says India's active number of monthly internet users are predicted to reach 639 million by the end of this year, with the coronavirus-induced lockdown a factor in this increase.


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Builder.ai- USP and Innovation

The platform brings together all the required pieces to bring to life a customer’s dream - i.e. to build, run, and scale a business. All that someone needs are an idea. Creating these apps is as simple as ordering a pizza.

For example, if you’re wanting to create an app to launch in the market. Anyone can create apps in as little as 2 weeks, by simply using Builder.ai’s Studio store by logging on it, then select a pre-packaged app template be it an e-commerce app, grocery store app, gym app or even a spa app your looking to develop, then add the features to the list (just like adding pizza toppings), you need not have any technical or coding experience, this request will then be taken up by their global pool of experts to iron out the precise ask, custom features for example and finally the app will be delivered to the partner in weeks at a fraction of the cost otherwise and to add to it, Builder.ai will provide the first three months of live service for free.

Builder.ai Everyday Phenomenal
Builder.ai Everyday Phenomenal

Key Products:

  • Builder Studio: A unique software building interface so easy anyone can do it
  • Builder Care: Keeps your software updated so you’re never blindsided by 3rd party changes
  • Builder Cloud: Get scaled automatically with Builder Clou
  • Builder Now: Prototype your big idea in less than 10 mins and it’s free
  • Builder Studio Store: a new range of pre-packed apps - beginning with e- commerce and delivery designed to bring about digital transformation for businesses both faster and at a fraction of the cost to help the SMBs amid COVID-19
  • Studio Rapid: A newly launched latest no-code product offering, Studio Rapid, which enables enterprises to build fully native custom apps.

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Builder.ai- Startup Launch

The ideation to start Builder was to empower everyone to build their ideas, regardless of their understanding of code. They started their journey from there and the premise was to make software development accessible to anyone, anywhere. It stemmed from the belief that everyone should be able to unlock their true potential, to make their vision come to life irrespective of what they know, what they have and what they are potentially afraid of.

They got together all the required pieces for their dream - i.e. to build, run, and scale a business. All that someone needs are an idea. They started with the following products including Builder Studio, Builder Care, Builder Cloud, Builder Now and since they believe in constant evolution of technology, when COVID-19 heavily impacted the businesses (specifically small and medium-sized businesses), they stepped up and launched “The Studio Store” to help all SMBs & SMEs build business apps.

This launch was part of Builder.ai’s larger mission to make the process of building a digital future more accessible, cost effective and efficient. Their mission is to give wings to the dreamers and for that its approach has always been progressive, they are constantly upgrading their product to give the best services to their clients, soon they are launching its new product to provide even better assistance.

Builder.ai- Funding

Year Stage Amount Investors Name
Late 2018 Series A $29.6 million Lakestar, Jungle Ventures with participation from Softbank’s DeepCore

Builder.ai- Business and Revenue Model

Builder.ai was bootstrapped for a considerable period of time. Their big chunk of customers are entrepreneurs who operate in the fashion, retail and hospitality businesses, along with some enterprise technology players. They have been registering just under 100 percent growth over the last three to four years with revenues tripling during the same period.

They have also succeeded in significantly shrinking costs and timelines around software development for their customers. Some of their apps are delivered in as little as 2 weeks! Then of course, their latest no-code product offering, Studio Rapid, enables enterprises to build fully native custom apps in a day.

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