Lovable started as a side project. One year later, it’s powering over 100,000 new apps a day and quietly transforming how software gets built.
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100,000 New Projects a Day
Earlier this week, at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Osika shared with attendees that Lovable is seeing 100,000 new products created every day. That’s not a typo.
Their users range from big companies prototyping software to an 11-year-old kid in Lisbon who built a Facebook-style app for his school. There’s even a Swedish duo making $700,000 a year from a startup they built on the platform just seven months ago.
Lovable’s pitch? Let anyone — not just programmers — turn an idea into something real.
“We’re going to reimagine how you build software,” Osika said. And it looks like the world is listening.
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A Wild Growth Curve
Back in July, Lovable had around 2.3 million active users. Now? Close to 8 million.
They’ve raised $228 million in total funding, including a $200 million round that pegged the company’s valuation at $1.8 billion. There are even whispers of new investors eyeing a $5 billion valuation — though Osika insists they’re not desperate for more capital.
He’s more focused on making the product better and onboarding experienced leaders, especially to strengthen their Stockholm HQ. Some hires are even coming in from San Francisco to join the team, which just crossed 100 employees.
Heavy Lifting for Corporate Teams
While Lovable originally captured attention among solo developers and indie builders, it’s becoming a go-to tool for big companies as well.
Osika described a shift: instead of sending around long product memos, teams now prototype directly in Lovable. “Demo, don’t memo,” he joked. The platform makes it easy to test ideas fast — skipping the endless pitch decks and spreadsheets.
Lovable works on a freemium model and hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue this June. That’s serious traction, especially for a startup that’s just a year old.
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But… Has the Bubble Burst?
Of course, not everything is up and to the right.
A Barclays report this summer showed that traffic to vibe coding platforms — including Lovable — had dipped by around 40% after spiking earlier in the year. Google Trends showed a similar slowdown.
So, is the hype wearing off?
Osika says no. In fact, he pointed to strong user retention, claiming more than 100% net dollar retention — meaning users are spending more over time, not less.
And while traffic might have dipped, the platform is still adding hundreds of thousands of new users a month.
Building It Safer
One place where Osika isn’t sugarcoating things: security.
After a recent incident where an AI-built app leaked 72,000 images and user data, Lovable started doubling down on precautions. They now run multiple security checks before letting anyone deploy their app — and they strongly recommend expert reviews for sensitive use cases like fintech or banking.
“We want building with Lovable to be more secure than building with just human-written code,” he said.
To that end, they’re actively hiring security engineers more aggressively than any other role.
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So… What’s Next?
Despite some busy competition (OpenAI and Anthropic have both launched AI coding tools that use similar models to Lovable’s), Osika isn’t sweating it.
He believes there’s space for multiple players — and that the real winners will be the ones who unlock creativity, not just code.
“Anyone can create if they have good ideas,” he said. “That should be celebrated, regardless of whoever does that.”
For now, he’s focused on building what he calls “the last piece of software.” A platform where teams don’t need to bounce between tools or wait on dev cycles — everything happens in one place, through a clean, simple interface.
A Different Kind of Startup Energy
Osika may be building a fast-moving AI startup, but he’s not pushing burnout culture.
“The best people on my team — most of them have kids. They’re mission-driven. They care deeply. But they’re not working 12-hour days, six days a week,” he said.
Of course, he added, “It’s a startup. So they’re probably working more than most jobs.”
Lovable is still in motion. A year ago, it didn’t exist. Today, it’s everywhere. From Fortune 500 boardrooms to middle school classrooms in Lisbon.
And according to Osika, they’ve only just started pedaling.
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
Keywords: startup, AI platform, growth, software development, corporate collaboration, security, innovation, culture
