Every seat in Copenhagen’s Bella Center was occupied as Anton Osika, co-founder of the vibe coding app Lovable, took the stage at this year’s TechBBQ conference. Lovable specializes in enabling individuals to develop apps and websites, particularly those without any coding experience. This innovative company stands out in the rapidly growing AI category known as vibe-coding, which allows utilizers to guide AI models in generating code, websites, or entire applications.
The success of Lovable has been remarkable: within just eight months, the Swedish startup has surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and completed a $200 million Series A funding round, achieving a valuation of $1.8 billion. This impressive growth has positioned it as Europe’s quickest-growing unicorn, with reports indicating that investors are already seeing to back a Series B, potentially valuing the company at $4 billion. However, there has so far been no indication from Lovable that it is interested in pursuing additional funding at this stage.
During a conversation with TechCrunch, Osika articulated a comprehensive vision for Lovable as the premier platform for software product development. He aims to guide utilizers—specifically founders—through every phase of product development, facilitating the creation of AI-native companies.
“Running a business involves setting up a multitude of aspects, such as payments and utilizer understanding, and eventually even incorporating the company itself,” Osika noted. “I want Lovable to assist in all these areas.”
Recently, Lovable launched an agent that aids utilizers in reading files, debugging errors, conducting web searches, generating images, and locating information. This tool is seen as an initial step toward realizing Osika’s expansive vision.
Currently, Lovable boasts over 2.3 million active utilizers, with 180,000 of them being paying subscribers. Osika explained that the company’s pricing strategy was designed to ensure they cover their costs while remaining accessible to utilizers. He highlighted various success stories from the platform, including a marketer creating a sales training tool and an engineer managing multiple compact businesses through Lovable.
“In the past, utilizers could create excellent initial drafts with Lovable. Now, they can develop complete products that closely resemble the output of an actual developer,” Osika stated.
While AI-generated code has faced criticism for being overly fragile—often deemed more suitable for demonstrations than finished products—Osika expressed confidence in the required for thorough code reviews regardless of its origin. He emphasized, “All code should be evaluated before it goes live, whether it’s produced by AI or humans.”
Lovable is currently leveraging foundational models from both Anthropic and OpenAI, which creates a unique dynamic. Both companies also offer their own product-development solutions—Claude Code and Codex—but Osika believes Lovable’s approach allows it to offer unmatched capabilities by integrating a diverse range of AI models, thereby granting it a competitive edge.
“The scope of what you can achieve is continuously widening,” he explained. To outpace rivals, Osika identified three key focutilizes: maintaining speed and security while ensuring a straightforward utilizer experience.
“If we keep prioritizing those aspects, we will build more trust with our customers than anyone else,” he concluded.
The timing of Lovable’s rise coincided with the recent IPO launch of Figma, a fellow player in the app design arena, which achieved a staggering market cap of $19.3 billion on its opening day. Yet, when questioned about Figma, Osika reiterated the company’s focus on delivering an exceptional product for its utilizers.
“As long as we are attentive to our utilizers’ requireds, that is all that truly matters,” he remarked.
Lovable’s roots are deeply embedded in the Swedish tech landscape, with Osika having founded the company in Stockholm. Its investor roster includes prominent European firms and angel investors like Stefan Lindeberg and Fredrik Hjelm, along with the backing of notable figures such as Nik Storonsky, CEO of Revolut, and Klarna founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski. Major clients of Lovable include HubSpot and Photoroom.
Throughout the conference, discussions among investors and founders highlighted the implications of Lovable’s success on the Nordic startup ecosystem. Shamillah Bankiya, a principal at Dawn Capital, noted, “The achievements of Lovable and other European AI unicorns are beneficial for all of Europe.” Although not an investor in Lovable, she acknowledged Osika as a noteworthy founder and pointed out that such success inspires a cultural shift, elevating aspirations for founders across the continent.
Osika confirmed that Lovable intconcludes to remain anchored in Europe, although it has a team in Los Angeles. Many European tech companies traditionally migrate to the U.S. for greater capital and opportunities, but for now, Osika remains steadquickly committed to European roots.
As a testament to his dedication to the founder community, Osika has begun investing in other startups. For instance, he recently backed Dennis Green-Lieber’s Danish consumer ininformigence venture, Propane.ai, as part of its $1.2 million seed funding round. Green-Lieber affirmed Lovable’s example of Nordic talent thriving on the international stage, highlighting that it is still feasible to establish groundbreaking companies with compact teams in the region.
“Yes, we’ve had indusattempt giants like Zconcludeesk, Unity, Klarna, and Spotify, but Lovable proves that with the right mindset and determination, it’s possible to build a category-defining company,” he stated, characterizing Lovable’s success as a catalyst for inspiration within the local startup ecosystem.
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