Lovable’s CEO on Outpacing the Competition in AI-Powered App Building

At the packed halls of Copenhagen’s Bella Center during this year’s TechBBQ conference, Anton Osika, co-founder of Lovable, took center stage. His startup, Lovable, is rapidly redefining how anyone — even those without coding experience — can develop apps and websites through a new approach called "vibe-coding." In this AI-powered category, users steer sophisticated models to generate functional code, build websites, or assemble entire digital products.

Lovable’s appeal is evident: Within just eight months, the Swedish company exceeded $100 million in annual recurring revenue and secured a $200 million Series A funding round. This achievement catapulted its valuation to $1.8 billion, making it the fastest-growing unicorn in Europe. With over 2.3 million active users and 180,000 paying subscribers, Lovable focuses on a transparent pricing model that simply covers operational costs.

Building a Platform for Non-Developers

Osika shared his vision with TechCrunch — to position Lovable as the ultimate hub for software creation, guiding founders through all product development stages. He imagines a future where Lovable not only helps users implement payments and user analytics but might even assist with company incorporation. This vision is already coming to life; recently, Lovable introduced an AI agent capable of reading files, debugging code, searching online, generating images, and organizing assets—a further step toward full-featured, founder-centric product assistance.

Users are leveraging Lovable for a variety of creative projects, from building sales training platforms to managing multiple small businesses under one digital roof. Osika notes that, whereas previous AI tools were good for generating early drafts, Lovable now enables users to complete and continually refine real, working products, making the process feel akin to working with a dedicated developer.

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Why it matters

Lovable’s success underscores a larger movement in the tech ecosystem: the democratization of software creation using AI. This shift enables non-technical founders and small teams to compete on a global stage, removing traditional barriers to entry such as coding expertise or access to expensive development teams. For startup ecosystems, particularly in regions like the Nordics, Lovable signals that world-class tech can be built and scaled outside Silicon Valley, given the right combination of AI tools and community support.

Risks & opportunities

The rise of platforms like Lovable comes with both new risks and fresh opportunities. One risk is the reliability of AI-generated code, which is sometimes seen as brittle and prone to unexpected defects. However, this also opens the door for startups providing quality assurance, code review, or bug-fixing services tailored to AI coding platforms. On the opportunity side, the ability to iterate rapidly and scale products at low cost means a faster path from idea to validated business—a boon for founders, and one mirrored in the growth trajectories of companies like Figma.

Startup idea or application

Inspired by Lovable’s approach, founders might build a marketplace or plugin platform dedicated to add-ons for AI coding tools—think specialized compliance modules, one-click integrations for payments, analytics, or even startup legal paperwork automation. Another idea: a talent platform that matches vetted human developers to AI-assisted product builds, bridging the quality gap and letting founders seamlessly blend human and machine output.

Outpacing Major Model Providers

Lovable operates on top of leading AI models such as Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT-5. While these providers offer their own competing services, Osika believes Lovable’s platform-agnostic approach grants users more flexibility and power. By allowing access to multiple foundation models, Lovable’s customers benefit from a broader set of capabilities while the company remains nimble and scalable without duplicating infrastructure.

To remain competitive, Lovable prioritizes speed, security, and simplicity, aiming to build deep trust with its expanding user base. Osika is undaunted by competition from companies like Figma, maintaining that user-centric product evolution is what truly matters in the long run.

Lovable’s Nordic Roots and Community Impact

Despite massive growth, Lovable remains deeply tied to its Swedish and broader European roots. Its investor roster features prominent Nordic and London-based firms, and its clients include Klarna, HubSpot, and Photoroom. Notably, Lovable has rekindled enthusiasm in the local startup scene. As founders in the region watch Lovable scale globally with a small and focused team, they gain renewed confidence that international success is both possible and repeatable—even outside traditional tech powerhouses.

Osika, now an investor himself, is helping to fund new Nordic startups, further solidifying the company’s role as a catalyst for innovation in the European tech community.

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