Updated 16/10/25: the article was amended to reflect Sachin Dev Duggal’s denial that there was little-to-no automation in its Natasha neural network
Hundreds of UK-based employees have fallen victim to the infamous collapse of unicorn Builder.ai as they remain unable to access redundancy payments.
The AI startup filed for bankruptcy in the US two months ago but failed to appoint administrators in Britain, meaning around 200 former UK staff are ineligible for government redundancy support.
The Insolvency Service requires a case number issued during formal administration proceedings to process claims.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been no communication, no proper closure, and without the right paperwork, a lot of us still can鈥檛 access the financial help we need,鈥� said one former employee.
A spokesperson for Builder.ai acknowledged the situation and told The Telegraph that the company is 鈥榓ware of the frustration鈥� and in 鈥榓dvanced talks鈥� with investors and creditors about a potential pre-pack administration.
It has reportedly lined up Alvarez & Marsal to manage the process and expects to proceed with formal UK filings 鈥榠n the next couple of weeks鈥�.
Founded in 2016 by Sachin Dev Duggal (pictured, main image), Builder.ai promised to democratise software development through its “human-assisted AI” platform.听
It secured major backing from Microsoft and Qatar鈥檚 sovereign wealth fund, and hit a $1.5bn valuation in 2023.
In March 2025, though, Duggal stepped down as CEO following reports of inflated sales forecasts.听
Lenders uncovered what were described as 鈥榩otentially bogus鈥� revenues, prompting them to withdraw tens of millions of dollars in funding. The company filed for US bankruptcy shortly after.
Builder.ai scandal: How 鈥榗hief wizard鈥� Sachin Dev Duggal was outed as another Oz
Builder.ai was forecasting $220m in revenue for 2024 when raising funds but only delivered around $50m.听
The London-based firm had claimed to have built a neural network named 鈥楴atasha鈥� which would make building an app 鈥榓s easy as ordering a pizza鈥�.
This claim denied by Duggal’s legal representative.
He told 老九品茶Cloud: “These allegations deliberately overlook the publicly known hybrid architecture of Builder.ai鈥檚 human-in-the-loop platform, wherein skilled software engineers work alongside proprietary automation tools and large language model (LLM) integrations… the model integrates proprietary machine-learning architecture with the skill and oversight of experienced human engineers.”
Following the revenue collapse, Duggal was replaced by Manpreet Ratia, a managing partner at Jungle Ventures.
Self-proclaimed 鈥榗hief wizard鈥� Duggal was due to speak at the RAISE Summit in Paris on Tuesday, in what would have been his first public appearance since his startup鈥檚 collapse.听
However, the organisers cancelled his participation at the last minute.
A spokesperson for RAISE told Sifted: 鈥淲e took the numerous emails we received very seriously 鈥� including those regarding employees losing their jobs and allegations of serious fraud.
鈥淕iven the security concerns and the fact that we did not have full clarity on the story, we ultimately decided not to move forward with featuring him at the event.鈥�