Latest news with #Base44
TechCrunch
2 hours ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Week in Review: Meta reveals its Oakley smart glasses
Welcome back to Week in Review! Lots in store for you today, including Wix's latest acquisition, Meta's new smart glasses, a look at the new Digg, and much more. Have a great weekend! Smart specs: Meta and Oakley have teamed up on a new pair of smart glasses that can record 3K video, play music, handle calls, and respond to Meta AI prompts. They start at $399 and have double the battery life of Meta's Ray-Bans. A $499 limited-edition Oakley Meta HSTN model will be available starting July 11. Unicorn watch: Wix bought 6-month-old solo startup Base44 for $80 million in cash after it quickly gained traction as a no-code AI tool for building web apps. Created by a single founder and already profitable, Base44's rapid rise made scooping it up irresistible. Sand to the rescue: Finland just turned on the world's largest sand battery — yes, actual sand — which stores heat to help power the small town of Pornainen's heating system and cut its carbon emissions. The low-tech, low-cost system is built from discarded fireplace soapstone, is housed in a giant silo, and can store heat for weeks, proving you don't need fancy lithium to fight climate change. You just need a pile of hot rocks. This is TechCrunch's Week in Review, where we recap the week's biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. News Image Credits:Rebecca Bellan We're back, baby: VanMoof is back from the brink with the S6, its first e-bike since bankruptcy — and it's sticking to its signature custom design, despite that being what nearly killed the company. Backed by McLaren tech and a beefed-up repair network, the new VanMoof promises smoother rides, smarter features, and (hopefully) fewer stranded cyclists. Space lasers: Baiju Bhatt, best known for co-founding Robinhood, is now building lasers in space. His new startup, Aetherflux, has raised $60 million to prove that beaming solar power from orbit isn't a fantasy, with a demo satellite set to launch next year and early backing from the Department of Defense. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Oh no: One of SpaceX's Starship rockets exploded during a test in Texas, likely pushing back the vehicle's next launch, which had been tentatively set for June 29. SpaceX says the blast, caused by a pressurized tank failure, didn't injure anyone, but it's yet another setback in a rocky year for the company's ambitious mega-rocket program. That lossless feeling: Spotify's long-awaited lossless audio tier still hasn't launched, but fresh hints buried in the latest app code suggest that it's under active development and could be closer than ever. But with years of delays and no official timeline, fans might want to temper their excitement until Spotify confirms the rollout. I can Digg it: Digg's reboot has entered alpha testing with a fresh iOS app aimed at becoming an AI-era Reddit alternative. The app offers a clean, simple design with curated communities, AI-powered article summaries, and gamified features like 'Gems' and daily leaderboards. We want you: The U.S. Navy is speeding up how it works with startups, cutting red tape and zeroing in on real wins like saved time and better morale. Department of the Navy CTO Justin Fanelli says it's leading with problems, hunting for game-changing tech in AI, GPS, and system upgrades. And with Silicon Valley finally paying attention, the Navy's becoming a go-to partner for innovators ready to shake things up. Cash ain't king: Mark Zuckerberg is throwing out massive cash — up to $100 million — to lure top AI talent from OpenAI and DeepMind. But OpenAI's Sam Altman says none of his key people have bitten, praising his team's mission over money. Meanwhile, OpenAI keeps pushing ahead with new AI models and even hints at launching an AI-powered social app that could outpace Meta's own shaky attempts. Before you go Image Credits:Cluely San Francisco's latest startup saga? Cluely's after-party for YC's AI Startup School blew up on Twitter, drawing 2,000 party crashers, but it became the 'most legendary party that never happened' after getting shut down by cops before a single drink was spilled. Founder Roy Lee's viral marketing may have promised chaos, but the real party's waiting. Maybe once the weather warms up?
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wix Acquires Base44 to Boost AI-Driven Intent-Based Software Development
Ltd. WIX recently acquired Base44, an innovative AI-powered platform that empowers users to build fully functional custom software solutions using natural language – no coding required. The buyout not only bolsters Wix's AI portfolio but also redefines the future of application technology landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Traditional development models are shifting to intent-driven software creation, an approach where users simply express what they want, and intelligent systems handle execution. This initiative, referred to as 'vibe coding,' is gaining strong traction in the market. As the demand rises for tools that transform ideas into reality using natural conversation and intuition instead of coding, Wix aims to make the digital space more open, creative and user-friendly than ever. Base44's core innovation lies in its fully automated, chat-based development environment. The platform allows users to build scalable, production-ready applications just by conversing with it. Its B2B traction with clients like eToro and SimilarWeb strengthens the platform's viability and real-world applicability. The acquisition by Wix is likely to augment Base44's reach, user adoption and setting up databases and managing authentication to handling infrastructure and deployment, Base44 streamlines the process of software integration of Base44 into the Wix AI ecosystem significantly expands the company's portfolio of intelligent creation tools. Wix has been gradually embedding AI across its platform, from AI website generators to intelligent design and content creation tools. With Base44, Wix positions itself as not only a website builder but a comprehensive digital creation platform. Ltd. price-consensus-chart | Ltd. Quote Under the terms of the deal, Wix acquired Base44 for an initial consideration of roughly $80 million, with additional earn-out payments extending through 2029 based on performance milestones. Wix expects to incur around $25 million in retention bonus payments for Base44 employees in 2025, supporting talent retention and product company expects an inconsequential contribution to 2025 bookings and revenues, highlighting the deal's long-term implications. These expenses will be excluded from non-GAAP and free cash flow metrics, helping investors better understand the company's core operating will retain its identity and continue operating as a distinct product and business unit within Wix. This will allow the Base44 team to maintain product authenticity and innovation while tapping into Wix's robust resources. Wix is doubling down on strategic AI investments across its platform, focusing on WIX Studio, commerce tools and generative AI. WIX Studio now has more than 2 million accounts, with 75% from new Partners, making it a top choice for agencies and professionals. The company is embedding AI assistants to boost efficiency and conversion rates. In May 2025, it launched the Model Context Protocol Server, enabling developers to build solutions using tools like Claude and Cursor. Wix has launched Wixel, a next-gen visual design platform that combines top AI models, a simple UI and advanced features. It lets anyone create high-quality photo and video content in just a few clicks, no design experience needed. Wixel supports Wix's mission to empower creators by removing barriers. Similar to its impact on website building in 2006, Wix now aims to reshape digital design. The company has also partnered with Microsoft to integrate Wixel's design tools into Microsoft recently announced the acquisition of Hour One, a pioneer in generative AI media creation. This move strengthens Wix's position at the forefront of AI-driven digital experiences, enhancing its capabilities in advanced web and visual design. Bringing this technology in-house allows the company to maintain greater control over front-end innovations, reduce third-party dependencies and manage costs more the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, Wix has taken a cautious stance on its full-year outlook, especially for its Business Solutions unit. Commerce and GPV are more sensitive to consumer trends and economic shifts. While easing forex pressure offers some short-term relief, it doesn't offset larger risks. Though current fundamentals look stable, the environment remains fragile and could change quickly. WIX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have declined 53.2% in the past year against the Computers - IT Services industry's growth of 53.3%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR, Arista Networks, Inc. ANET and Ubiquiti Inc. UI. JNPR presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while ANET and UI carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks is leveraging the 400-gig cycle to capture hyperscale switching opportunities inside the data center. The company is set to capitalize on the increasing demand for data center virtualization, cloud computing and mobile traffic packet/optical convergence. Juniper also introduced new features within the AI-driven enterprise portfolio that enable customers to simplify the rollout of their campus wired and wireless networks while bringing greater insight to network operators. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 4.88%.Arista delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 11.82% and has a long-term growth expectation of 14.81%. Arista currently serves five verticals, namely cloud titans (customers that deploy more than 1 million servers, cloud specialty providers, service providers, financial services and the rest of the enterprise. It supplies products to a prestigious set of customers, including Fortune 500 global companies in markets such as cloud titans, enterprises, financials and specialty cloud service effective management of its strong global network of more than 100 distributors and master resellers improved its visibility for future demand and inventory management techniques. In the last reported quarter, Ubiquiti delivered an earnings surprise of 33.3%. Its highly flexible global business model remains well-suited to adapt to the changing market dynamics to overcome challenges while maximizing growth. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ltd. (WIX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ubiquiti Inc. (UI) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Israeli coder Maor Shlomo sells six-month AI startup Base44 to Wix for $80M in landmark all-cash deal
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Israeli coder Maor Shlomo sold his six‑month‑old, self‑funded startup Base44 to Wix for $80 million in cash. The deal, announced June 18, marks a striking example of how AI and 'vibe coding' are empowering individuals and not just big teams to build the next generation of softwareAt 31, Shlomo isn't new to success. Fresh off his AI analytics venture, Explorium , which raised around $125 million and was backed by Insight Partners, he started Base44 as a side project post-IDF reserve duty in late 2024.'It began as something I'd tinker with,' he told CTech. By January, it had coalesced into a legit lets anyone create full-featured web and mobile apps simply by describing what they want, no code, no developer team required. Users draft 'prompts' like they would chat with ChatGPT, and Base44 handles authentication, databases, analytics, email, and even mapsIn May alone, it generated a $189,000 profit, impressive, given high LLM token traction was rapid, 100,000 users in weeks, scaling to over 250,000 within months. Partnerships with eToro and Similarweb followed, and AWS spotlighted Demo Day invitesOn LinkedIn, Shlomo shared early struggles and tips, 'Push to production 13 times a day stability is not perfect, but good enough,' he wroteWix, known for no‑code website tools, aims to fold Base44 into its offerings without disrupting its identity. Shlomo, now a Wix employee, assured users on X that 'nothing changes too much , better support, faster product velocity, B2B features.'Wix confirmed an additional $25 million retention bonus for Base44's eight-person teamAs Shlomo told Calcalist, 'Wix is probably the only company that can help us scale and distribute globally without slowing down our development.'Base44's rapid rise and impressive sale price have been the talk of the vibe-coding community.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Six-month-old, solo-owned vibe coder Base44 sells to Wix for $80M cash
There's a lot of talk in the startup world about how AI makes individuals so productive that it could give rise to a generation of 'solo unicorns' – one-person companies worth over $1 billion. While an actual solo unicorn remains a mythical creature, Israeli developer Maor Shlomo provided compelling evidence Wednesday that the concept might not be impossible. Shlomo sold his six-month-old, bootstrapped vibe-coding startup Base44 to Wix for $80 million deal, Wix announced Wednesday. And the deal was cash, Wix confirmed to TechCrunch. Admittedly, this wasn't a billion dollars or close to it. And Shlomo wasn't truly solo — he had 8 employees, Wix confirmed. They will collectively receive $25 million of the $80 million as a 'retention' bonus. Wix declined to give details on that part of the deal, like how long they have to stay in their jobs to get full payouts. Still, Base44's rapid rise and impressive sale price has been the talk of the vibe coding community. In its six months as a standalone company, it reportedly grew to 250,000 users, hitting 10,000 users within its first three weeks. According to Shlomo's posts on X and LinkedIn, the company was profitable, generating $189,000 in profit in May even after covering high LLM token costs, which he also documented publicly. Base44 spread mostly through word of mouth as Shlomo, a 31-year-old programmer, shared his building journey on LinkedIn and Twitter. The project began as side venture, he told Israeli tech news site CTech. 'Base44 is a moonshot experiment – helping everyone, technical or not, build software without coding at all,' he explained on LinkedIn when he launched it to the public. It's one of the newer crop of vibe-coding products designed for non-programmers. Users enter text prompts, and the platform builds complete applications, with database, storage, authentication, analytics, and integration. It also supports email, texting, and maps, with a roadmap for more enterprise-grade security support. Base44 isn't unique in this area. Other vibe coders like Adaptive Computer handle similar infrastructure work. But Base44's fast rise was astounding all the same. Shlomo was already known in the Israeli startup community through his previous startup, the Insight Partners-backed data analytics startup Explorium. His brother is also a co-founder of an AI security startup, Token Security, which just raised $20 million led by Notable Capital (formerly GGV Capital) and a bunch of Israeli tech angels. He quickly gained partnership agreements for Base44 with big Israeli tech companies like eToro and Similarweb. After posting about his decision to use Anthropic's Claude LLM through AWS instead of models by OpenAI — mostly for cost-per-performance reasons — Amazon invited Base44 to demo at a Tel Aviv AWS event last month, which Shlomo documented. 'Crazy f***ing journey so far,' Shlomo posted on LinkedIn when announcing the news of the acquisition. Despite the growth and the profits – or really because of it – he sold his still-bootstrapped company because 'the scale and volume we need is not something we can organically grow into … If we were able to get so far organically, bootstrapped, I'm excited to see our new pace now that we have all the resources in place,' he wrote. For its part, Wix picked up a proven, fast-growing, local vibe-coding platform for a relative song because of its youth. OpenAI paid $3 billion for Windsurf, which was funded in 2021. Wix, of course, offers no-code website building that look professionally designed. Adding a profitable LLM vibe coding product to its offerings is a logical move. Shlomo could not be immediately reached for additional comment.
TechCrunch
3 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
6-month-old, solo-owned vibe coder Base44 sells to Wix for $80M cash
There's a lot of talk in the startup world about how AI makes individuals so productive that it could give rise to a generation of 'solo unicorns' — one-person companies worth over $1 billion. While an actual solo unicorn remains a mythical creature, Israeli developer Maor Shlomo provided compelling evidence Wednesday that the concept might not be impossible. Shlomo sold his 6-month-old, bootstrapped vibe-coding startup Base44 to Wix for $80 million deal, Wix announced Wednesday. And the deal was cash, Wix confirmed to TechCrunch. Admittedly, this wasn't a billion dollars or close to it. And Shlomo wasn't truly solo — he had 8 employees, Wix confirmed. They will collectively receive $25 million of the $80 million as a 'retention' bonus. Wix declined to give details on that part of the deal, like how long they have to stay in their jobs to get full payouts. Still, Base44's rapid rise and impressive sale price has been the talk of the vibe coding community. In its six months as a standalone company, it reportedly grew to 250,000 users, hitting 10,000 users within its first three weeks. According to Shlomo's posts on X and LinkedIn, the company was profitable, generating $189,000 in profit in May even after covering high LLM token costs, which he also documented publicly. Base44 spread mostly through word of mouth as Shlomo, a 31-year-old programmer, shared his building journey on LinkedIn and Twitter. The project began as side venture, he told Israeli tech news site CTech. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW 'Base44 is a moonshot experiment – helping everyone, technical or not, build software without coding at all,' he explained on LinkedIn when he launched it to the public. It's one of the newer crop of vibe-coding products designed for non-programmers. Users enter text prompts, and the platform builds complete applications, with database, storage, authentication, analytics, and integration. It also supports email, texting, and maps, with a roadmap for more enterprise-grade security support. Base44 isn't unique in this area. Other vibe coders like Adaptive Computer handle similar infrastructure work. But Base44's fast rise was astounding all the same. Shlomo was already known in the Israeli startup community through his previous startup, the Insight Partners-backed data analytics startup Explorium. His brother is also a co-founder of an AI security startup, Token Security, which just raised $20 million led by Notable Capital (formerly GGV Capital) and a bunch of Israeli tech angels. He quickly gained partnership agreements for Base44 with big Israeli tech companies like eToro and Similarweb. After posting about his decision to use Anthropic's Claude LLM through AWS instead of models by OpenAI — mostly for cost-per-performance reasons — Amazon invited Base44 to demo at a Tel Aviv AWS event last month, which Shlomo documented. 'Crazy f***ing journey so far,' Shlomo posted on LinkedIn when announcing the news of the acquisition. Despite the growth and the profits – or really because of it – he sold his still-bootstrapped company because 'the scale and volume we need is not something we can organically grow into … If we were able to get so far organically, bootstrapped, I'm excited to see our new pace now that we have all the resources in place,' he wrote. For its part, Wix picked up a proven, fast-growing, local vibe-coding platform for a relative song because of its youth. OpenAI paid $3 billion for Windsurf, which was funded in 2021. Wix, of course, offers no-code website building that look professionally designed. Adding a profitable LLM vibe coding product to its offerings is a logical move. Shlomo could not be immediately reached for additional comment.
