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Lovable, the Swedish AI unicorn that’s revolutionizing programming

Redazione RHC : 3 September 2025 08:00

This year’s TechBBQ conference was packed to capacity at Copenhagen’s Bella Center when Anton Osika, co-founder of the AI-powered programming app Lovable, took the stage.

The fundamental concept of Lovable is extremely simple: it’s about enabling anyone, especially those with no programming knowledge, to develop apps and websites. This is made possible by introducing the concept of “vibe coding,” or intuition-based programming, which uses trial and error aided by artificial intelligence. Solutions like Cursor, Gemini, Claude, and of course Lovable are paving the way for this new approach.

At the end of June, Lovable released an agent to help users read files, fix errors, search the web, generate images, and locate files: a first step toward realizing this vision.

An extremely attractive proposition was presented to users: the Swedish company, in just eight months, announced that it had reached an ARR of over $100 million and secured a Series A investment of $200 million, with a valuation which has reached $1.8 billion, thus acquiring the title of the fastest-growing unicorn in Europe. According to the Financial Times, investors are already raising hopes of launching a new Series B fundraising round, circulating deals that could value the company at up to $4 billion. However, to date, there have been no indications of interest from Lovable.

Lovable has over 2.3 million active users, including 180,000 paid subscribers. According to founder Osika, the company has defined pricing based on cost coverage and in recent months has made a qualitative leap: from a simple tool for generating drafts to a platform capable of producing complete applications, comparable to the work of a developer. Despite criticism of the fragility of AI-generated code, Osika reiterates that all code must be reviewed, regardless of its origin.

The company relies on several fundamental AI models, including Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT-5. This choice allows it to leverage a greater variety of tools, although it means indirect competition with the same vendors, which develop competing solutions. However, Osika argues that Lovable has one advantage: the freedom to integrate multiple models, giving users greater capabilities and the company the flexibility to grow without the burden of proprietary infrastructure.

The CEO insists that the priority is product quality and speed of execution. The company aims to offer a simple, secure, and intuitive experience, convinced that this strategy will help it earn more customer trust than any competitor. Even with Figma’s successful IPO, valued at $19.3 billion, Osika maintains a focus on users and their needs, believing this to be the true measure of growth.

Lovable is deeply rooted in the Swedish tech ecosystem, with the backing of prominent investors such as Stefan Lindeberg, Fredrik Hjelm, Greens Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures, and 20VC. Investors also include prominent figures such as Nik Storonsky (Revolut) and Sebastian Siemiatkowski (Klarna), who is also a customer alongside companies such as HubSpot and Photoroom. This connection to the European market reinforces Lovable’s role as an example of local success with global ambitions.

Lovable’s success is seen as a catalyst for the entire European startup ecosystem. According to Shamillah Bankiya of Dawn Capital, the value is not only economic, but also cultural: it raises the aspirations of founders on the continent. Osika confirms her desire to maintain her headquarters in Europe, despite having a team in Los Angeles, and has begun reinvesting in other entrepreneurs, such as with Propane.ai. The Lovable case demonstrates that small teams with a global vision can still emerge and redefine entire industries starting from Northern Europe.

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The editorial team of Red Hot Cyber consists of a group of individuals and anonymous sources who actively collaborate to provide early information and news on cybersecurity and computing in general.

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