Builder.ai
→ Management faked 9-figures+ in revenue
→ Their "AI" was actually hundreds of devs in India
→ Lenders were told revenues which were 4x the reality
This isn't another WeWork-style "creative accounting" story.
This is pure fraud.
The company claimed $220 million in revenue last year. The real number was $55 million. They literally made up $165 million in sales.
Builder.ai's business model was supposed to be a low-code/no-code app development platform, but they made a significant amount of their revenue from their 'custom' development services - kinda like a normal agency.
The pitch was to create an "assembly line" for apps.
It sounds elegant on paper - drag and drop features, pay per feature, get an app built in weeks.
But reality was that they used over 2,000 freelance coders and 150 agencies under the guise of "AI."
And the accounting nonsense is another story in itself - when Builder signed a contract, they booked the revenue in their financial statements even though the clients hadn't paid yet.
So as a result, over 75% of revenue never even touched the company's bank accounts.
Yikes
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