Lovable, the Stockholm-based AI coding platform, is nearing 8 million users, CEO Anton Osika shared during a sit-down with this editor on Monday, a significant increase from the 2.3 million active users the company reported in July. Osika mentioned that Lovable, which was founded almost exactly a year ago, is now witnessing “100,000 new products built on Lovable every single day.”
These metrics point to rapid growth for the startup, which has amassed $228 million in total funding so far, including a $200 million round this past summer that valued the company at $1.8 billion. Recent rumors, possibly fueled by its own investors, suggest that new backers are interested in investing at a $5 billion valuation. However, Osika noted that the company isn’t constrained by capital and declined to disclose any fundraising plans.
During our onstage conversation at the Web Summit event in Lisbon, Osika notably refrained from sharing another figure: Lovable’s current annual recurring revenue. The company, which operates on a mix of free and paid tiers, reached $100 million in ARR this June, a milestone it publicly celebrated. However, questions have arisen since about whether the vibe coding boom is sustainable.
Research from Barclays this summer, along with Google Trends data, noted a decline in traffic to some of the hottest services, including Lovable and Vercel’s v0, after peaks earlier this year. (Traffic to Lovable was reported to be down 40% as of September, according to Barclays analysts.) “This waning traffic begs the question on whether app/site vibecoding has peaked out already or has just had a bit of a lull before interest ramps up,” they reportedly wrote in a note to investors.
Despite this, Osika maintained that user retention remains strong, citing more than 100% net dollar retention, which means users are spending more over time. He also shared that the company has “just passed” the 100-employee mark and is bringing in leadership talent from San Francisco to enhance its Stockholm headquarters.
Lovable originated from GPT Engineer, an open-source tool Osika developed that gained traction among developers. He quickly recognized a larger opportunity with the 99% of people who don’t know how to code. “A few days after I built GPT Engineer, I realized we could really reimagine software development,” Osika recalled. “I biked over to my co-founder’s place and said, ‘I have this great idea.’ I woke him up.”
The platform has attracted a diverse user base. More than half of Fortune 500 companies are leveraging Lovable to “supercharge creativity,” according to Osika. He also highlighted a young user in Lisbon who created a Facebook clone for school, along with a duo from Sweden making $700,000 annually from a startup they launched seven months ago on the platform.
“What I hear from people trying Lovable is, ‘It just works,’” Osika said, crediting the Swedish design sensibility behind the platform.
Security remains a more complex issue for the vibe coding sector. When I brought up a recent incident where an app created with vibe coding tools leaked 72,000 images, including GPS data and user IDs, Osika acknowledged the concern. “The part of the engineering organization where we’re hiring most rapidly is security engineers,” he said, explaining that his goal is to make building with Lovable “more secure than building with just human-written code.” He noted that Lovable now conducts multiple security checks before users can deploy, but emphasized that those creating sensitive applications—like banking apps—still need to hire security experts, just as in traditional development.
Osika was equally candid when discussing competition from OpenAI and Anthropic, the AI giants supplying models for Lovable, which have also released their own coding agents. He believes the market can accommodate multiple winners. “If we can unlock more human creativity and agency… and drive change so anyone can create with good ideas and build businesses, that should be celebrated, no matter who does it.”
His perspective is refreshingly collaborative in an industry that often leans competitive. (Even Osika has engaged in light social media exchanges with Amjad Masad of rival Replit.) However, he stated that his current focus is on creating “the most intuitive experience for humans” rather than fixating on competitors.
Osika expressed Lovable’s mission as building “the last piece of software” — a platform where everything a product organization needs, from understanding users to deploying mission-critical features, can be accomplished through a simple interface.
“Demo, don’t memo,” a popular phrase among product leaders, encapsulates how companies now utilize Lovable, he explained. Employees can quickly prototype ideas rather than develop lengthy presentations and test them with early users before committing resources.
Despite the hypergrowth and investor interest, Osika—dressed casually in a beige T-shirt and matching button-down with floppy hair framing his face—appeared quite comfortable. The 30-something former particle physicist, who was the first employee at Sauna Labs before founding Lovable, has rapidly transitioned from open-source developer to venture-backed founder and sought-after conference guest. Yet he seemed more interested in discussing European work culture than lingering on his company’s rise or the newfound attention he’s receiving.
“What matters to me is that everyone at the company is mission-driven; they genuinely care about what they’re doing and our collective success,” he said, resisting the intensifying hustle culture of Silicon Valley. “The best people on my team today, most of them have kids, and they truly care about what we’re doing. They’re not working 12 hours a day, six days a week.”
Although he added, “But it’s a startup, so they’re probably working more than most jobs.”
