StackBlitz, an AI text encoding startup, is in discussions for a new funding round at a $700 million valuation.
1min read Eric Simons, CEO of StackBlitz, an AI text encoding startup, said the company is in final negotiations to raise $70 million at a $700 million valuation, according to people familiar with the matter. Simons said the company would raise $83.5 million in the deal led by Emergence Capital and GV (formerly Google Ventures), with Madrona Venture Group, Conviction and Mantis also participating.
StackBlitz's other investors include Flex Capital, Greylock Partners and Tribe Capital, according to data from PitchBook.
StackBlitz, founded in 2017, is a web development software startup that until recently struggled to find its footing. But that changed with the launch of its new AI product, Bolt.new, a platform that uses AI to help build websites. Simons said the platform, which launched in October, now has nearly 1 million users a month and has grown through word of mouth. He added that the service brings in several million dollars in recurring revenue for the startup each year.
The appeal of the platform, Simons said, is that even those with limited technical skills can create something using it, with users describing what they want in natural language and creating complex web applications without coding experience. In some ways, StackBlitz competes with Replit, a development technology company.
Joe Floyd, a general partner at Emergence Capital, will join StackBlitz's board in the funding round, Floyd said. He noted that revenue has grown rapidly since the company launched its new product three months ago, and that at this stage, "its growth rate is faster than Zoom, Salesforce or any of our previous investments," and that "both techies and non-techies are using the tool."
Erik Nordlander, a general partner at GV, said the startup makes software development easier, adding: "There is no faster way to develop an app than with their flagship product."
