At Copenhagen’s Bella Center, every seat was filled as Anton Osika, co-founder of AI coding startup Lovable, took the stage at this year’s TechBBQ conference. The company is a leader in the fast-growing “vibe coding” space, where users guide AI models to create apps, websites, and even full-scale software products.
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From Startup to Unicorn in Eight Months
Lovable’s growth has been nothing short of extraordinary. In just eight months, the Swedish company:
- Surpassed $100M ARR
- Raised a $200M Series A
- Hit a $1.8B valuation, making it Europe’s fastest-growing unicorn
The Financial Times reports that investors are already offering terms for a $4B Series B though Lovable has shown no signs of rushing into it.
A Bigger Vision: Building AI-Native Companies
Osika shared his vision of Lovable as more than just a coding assistant. He sees it becoming a platform for founders, handling everything from:
- Payments setup
- User analytics
- Debugging and automation
- Future services like company incorporation
In June, Lovable launched a new AI agent capable of reading files, debugging errors, searching the web, generating images, and managing files the first step toward this broader mission.
Explosive User Growth
Today, Lovable boasts:
- 2.3M active users
- 180K paying subscribers
Osika explained that pricing was designed simply to cover operating costs. Popular use cases include:
- Marketers building training platforms
- Engineers managing multiple small businesses
- Entrepreneurs launching fully functional products
“In the past, you could create a great first draft. Now, you can build a full product much more like working with a real developer,” Osika said.
Addressing AI Code Criticism
Skeptics argue AI-generated code is brittle, suitable for demos but not production. Osika dismissed the concern:
“All code should be reviewed before publishing whether written by humans or AI.”
Lovable currently integrates Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT-5, though both providers also run competing services.
Why Lovable Believes It Has the Edge
Osika emphasized that Lovable is model-agnostic, giving users access to multiple AI systems, while Anthropic and OpenAI are tied to their own stacks.
“That puts us in a better position than them,” he said. “If we stay fast, secure, and easy to use, we’ll build more trust than anyone else.”
Lovable vs. Figma Comparisons
The buzz around Figma’s IPO (valued at $19.3B on day one) inevitably invites comparisons. But Osika shrugged off the competition:
“As long as we’re listening to our users and giving them what they need, that’s all that matters.”
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Deep Roots in Europe
Lovable is proudly European, founded in Stockholm, and backed by top investors including:
- Stefan Lindeberg (Nordic Game Ventures)
- Fredrik Hjelm (Guestit)
- Greens Ventures & Hummingbird Ventures
- 20VC (Harry Stebbings, London)
Angel investors include Nik Storonsky (Revolut) and Sebastian Siemiatkowski (Klarna) — whose company is also a Lovable client, alongside HubSpot and Photoroom.
Impact on the European Startup Scene
At TechBBQ, investors highlighted Lovable’s symbolic impact.
Shamillah Bankiya, principal at Dawn Capital, noted:
“The success of Lovable raises the bar for ambitious founders across Europe. Beyond jobs, it shifts the cultural mindset of what’s possible.”
Paying It Forward: Osika as Investor
Osika has begun investing in other founders, including Propane.ai, a Danish customer intelligence startup that just raised a $1.2M pre-seed.
Founder Dennis Green-Lieber said Lovable proves Nordic teams can compete globally:
“With a small team and relentless effort, you can still build a category-defining company. Lovable has lit a fire in our ecosystem.”
Sources ( Techcrunch )
