Wix Acquires AI App Startup Base44 for $80M

DIY website builder Wix acquired solo-owned Base44 for $80 million. The startup will continue to operate as a standalone business with added support from Wix. The acquisition marks Wix’s entrance into the world of vibe coding.

“This new approach allows people to simply express what they want to build, while intelligent agents do the heavy lifting,” Wix explains in its announcement. “As demand grows for tools that turn ideas into reality through conversation and intuition rather than code, Wix is working to make the digital world more accessible and creative than ever before.”

Base44 was founded just six months ago by 31-year-old Maor Shlomo, an Israeli entrepreneur, technology leader, and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. The company had only eight employees and no external funding.

Shlomo developed a viral AI app maker that “delivers effortless, code-free digital creation through an intuitive, conversational AI experience.” Similar to Wix’s no-code website builder, the tool allows everyone to build software with zero code.

The platform can generate fully functional apps – including database, storage, user authentication, analytics, and third-party integrations – solely from text prompts. It also supports email, texting, and maps.

Initially a side project for Shlomo, Base44 attracted over 100,000 users in the first months of its existence and secured partnerships with notable tech companies, including eToro and Similarweb.

The company gained traction as Shlomo documented his building journey on LinkedIn and X. According to his posts, Base44 was profitable from its early days. Just weeks before it was acquired by Wix, Shlomo reported a profit of $189,000, nearly double his initial forecast of $100,000 for that month.

It’s worth noting that startups often take years to reach profitability. As a reference, Wix was a loss-making company until recently, despite being founded almost two decades ago and generating annual revenues of over $1 billion.

Some AI enthusiasts believe that in the future, single founders could build $1 billion companies, called “solo unicorns,” by leveraging AI. While Base44 sold for far less than $1 billion, its rapid growth and strong exit offer a glimpse of what might soon be possible.

Wix is heavily betting on AI to drive innovation. Last month, Wix enriched its AI portfolio by acquiring Hour One, bringing advanced AI-powered video creation capabilities in-house.

Wix also recently launched an AI-powered coding tool, enabling developers to generate production-ready code from text prompts.