Indian guys are really something else!
Today we're talking about Sachin Dev Duggal, the founder and former CEO of AI programming company Builder.ai.
He created a company that was "all human, no intelligence"
Scammed hundreds of millions in funding from giants like SoftBank and Microsoft, reaching a valuation of $1.5 billion
And even dared to falsely report 300% revenue to investors
Yes, the company's backend had no AI, just a group of Indian guys pretending to be AI writing code.
Even more shocking, this deception lasted 8 years.
But this week, he's completely finished.
[Rest of the translation continues in the same manner, maintaining the original structure and translating all text outside of HTML tags]Moment of Liquidation
Over time, the cracks within Builder.ai have continued to widen.
According to internal sources, the company has long relied on exaggerated revenue forecasts and AI propaganda to obtain funding.
The massive global workforce and costly expansion plans, including exploring new markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, have continuously increased the cash burn rate.
Meanwhile, the legal issues of the former CEO have been emerging one after another.
According to the Financial Times, Duggal is involved in an investigation of a money laundering criminal case in India. In response, Builder.ai's general counsel previously stated in a now-deleted blog that Duggal was merely a witness in the case.
Nevertheless, Duggal resigned from the CEO position in February but remained on the board and retained his "wizard" title.
He was replaced by Manpreet Ratia, a former executive from Amazon and Flipkart, who had previously been a managing partner at Jungle Ventures, an investor in Builder.ai.
Immediately after, the moment of liquidation arrived.
In May 2025, Viola Credit, one of Builder.ai's senior investors, seized $37 million from the company's account and triggered a default.
The newly appointed CEO Manpreet Ratia, who had just taken over to clean up the mess two months ago, was left with only $5 million in cash.
A few days later, he filed for bankruptcy.
It proved that Builder.ai had provided exaggerated financial projections to lenders and misreported its revenue health.
This breach of contract terms allowed Viola Credit to take drastic measures.
However, the larger reason behind this structural collapse was that their business model never matched their brand promotion.
Ratia acknowledged the defeat in a company-wide conference call. Most global employees were laid off, and the product once positioned as an AI innovation flagship was shelved.
On May 20th, it officially declared bankruptcy.
A month before the failure, the company underwent a last-minute restructuring, cutting 220 out of 770 employees.
Builder.ai stated this week that due to the inability to recover from historical challenges and past decisions, which put enormous pressure on the company's financial condition, despite the management's "unremitting efforts," the company would appoint an administrator to oversee the bankruptcy procedure.
According to the Financial Times, Builder.ai owed Amazon $85 million and Microsoft $30 million in total.
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