Hundreds of Indian developers were secretly powering Builder.ai’s “AI” assistant

Bankrupt British startup Builder.ai has been accused of faking its AI capabilities — with Financial Express revealing that its coding assistant “Natasha” was actually powered by hundreds of human developers in India.

Natasha was marketed as an AI tool that could assemble apps using code templates — essentially functioning like a no-code builder powered by artificial intelligence. But in reality:

• Customer queries weren’t processed by AI at all. Instead, they were routed to real developers who manually wrote code, mimicking the output of a smart assistant.

Despite this, the company managed to raise $450 million in funding, including from major players like Microsoft. Even after a 2019 Wall Street Journal report raised serious doubts about its use of real AI, Builder.ai continued to attract investors.

At its peak, the startup — founded in 2016 — was valued at over $1 billion, according to Financial Times.

But now, founder Sachin Dev Duggal is trying to sell the company’s assets or reach a pre-sale agreement while navigating bankruptcy. He’ll need at least $10 million in bridge financing to close the deal, and another $25 million to stabilize operations before raising more.

• Builder.ai's downfall accelerated after much of its intellectual property was pledged as collateral to Viola Credit, which later froze company funds.
• Operations in several regions were halted, and the firm now faces major hurdles in restructuring.

Builder.ai’s main offices are in the US and UK, with subsidiaries registered in India and Singapore.