Builder.ai

How it happened

Builder.ai was a UK startup promising AI-assisted, no-code app development, reaching a ~$1.2B valuation in 2023 with backing including Microsoft. Questions over its technology and finances, plus heavy cash burn (~$445M), collapsed it into insolvency in May 2025, wiping out essentially all value. Glassdoor reviewers had flagged the gap for years: many said the much-touted AI was really armies of outsourced human developers, that client apps shipped late or never, and that sales teams were pushed to over-promise while their commissions went unpaid. When insolvency came, insiders said it arrived with no warning — no notice period, salaries and final settlements left owed — and several noted they had predicted the implosion long before.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.