Anton Osika, CEO of the Stockholm-based AI coding platform Lovable, revealed to this editor during a meeting on Monday that the platform is approaching 8 million users, a significant increase from the 2.3 million active users the company reported in July. Osika mentioned that the company, established almost exactly a year ago, is also experiencing “100,000 new products built on Lovable every single day.”
These metrics indicate the startup’s swift expansion. To date, it has secured $228 million in total funding, which includes a $200 million round this past summer that set the company’s valuation at $1.8 billion. Recent rumors, possibly fueled by its investors, suggest that new investors are interested in investing at a $5 billion valuation. However, Osika stated that the company has sufficient capital and chose not to comment on fundraising strategies.
During his appearance on stage at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Osika notably did not disclose Lovable’s current annual recurring revenue. This past June, the company proudly announced that it had reached $100 million in ARR. However, questions have since arisen regarding the long-term viability of the vibe coding trend.
According to research from Barclays this summer and Google Trends data, traffic to some of the most popular services, including Lovable and Vercel’s v0, had decreased following peaks earlier in the year. (Barclays analysts reported that Lovable’s traffic was down 40% as of September.) They reportedly stated in a note to investors that “This declining traffic raises the question of whether app/site vibecoding has already peaked or is simply experiencing a temporary slowdown before interest picks up again.”
Osika, however, maintained that retention rates are still robust, citing a net dollar retention rate exceeding 100%, which means users spend more over time. He also noted that the company has “just surpassed” the 100-employee milestone and is now bringing in leadership talent from San Francisco to strengthen its Stockholm headquarters.
Lovable originated from GPT Engineer, an open-source tool created by Osika that quickly gained popularity among developers. However, he explained that he soon recognized the larger potential within the 99% of individuals who lack coding skills. “A few days after creating GPT Engineer, I realized that we’re going to change how software is built,” Osika stated. “I rode my bike to my co-founder’s place and woke him up, saying I had this great idea.”
The platform has drawn a diverse user base. Osika noted that over half of Fortune 500 companies are leveraging Lovable to “supercharge creativity.” He also mentioned that an 11-year-old in Lisbon created a Facebook clone for his school, while a Swedish pair is earning $700,000 per year from a startup they launched on the platform seven months ago.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
“The feedback I get from people who try Lovable is, ‘It simply works,’” Osika stated, attributing it to what he called Swedish design sensibility.
Security is still a challenging issue for the vibe coding industry. When I brought up a recent case in which an app developed using vibe coding tools inadvertently exposed 72,000 images, including GPS data and user IDs, Osika acknowledged the issue.
He stated that “The security engineering team is where we are increasing hiring most rapidly,” adding that his objective is to make building with Lovable “more secure than building with code written solely by humans.” He also mentioned that Lovable now performs multiple security checks before users can deploy, though the platform still mandates that users creating sensitive applications, such as banking apps, engage security experts, similar to traditional development practices.
Osika gave a similarly straightforward response when I inquired about competition from OpenAI and Anthropic, the AI giants whose models power Lovable but that have also introduced their own coding agents. He believes the market is large enough to accommodate multiple winners. “If we can unlock greater human creativity and agency and drive the change so that anyone can create if they have good ideas, [and] build businesses on top of that, it should be celebrated, no matter who achieves it.”
This is a notably collaborative stance in an industry not known for it. (Osika has even engaged in some minor social media exchanges with Amjad Masad of competitor Replit.) However, he mentioned that his current focus is on developing “the most intuitive experience for humans” rather than focusing on rivals.
Osika described Lovable’s mission as creating “the last piece of software” — a platform that offers everything a product organization requires, from understanding users to deploying essential features, through a user-friendly interface.
“Demo, don’t memo,” a common expression among product leaders, illustrates how companies are currently utilizing Lovable, he said. Employees can now quickly create prototypes of ideas instead of writing lengthy presentations, and then test them with early users before committing resources.
Despite the rapid growth and investor interest, Osika, casually dressed in a beige T-shirt and matching button-down, with his hair framing his face, appeared very relaxed. The 30-something former particle physicist, who was the first employee at Sauna Labs before founding Lovable, has quickly transitioned from open-source developer to venture-backed founder to sought-after conference guest. Yet, he seemed more interested in discussing European work culture than focusing on his company’s growth or the attention he is suddenly receiving.
He stated that “What I care about is that everyone at the company is driven by our mission, truly cares about their work, and how we succeed as a team,” pushing back against Silicon Valley’s increasing hustle culture. “The best people on my team today, most of them have children, and they genuinely care about what we’re doing. They’re not working 12 hours a day, six days a week.”
Although he added: “Even though it’s a startup, they’re likely working more than in most jobs.”
