The tech world is abuzz with talk of “solo unicorns” — one-person AI-driven companies reaching billion-dollar valuations. While none have yet materialized, Israeli developer Maor Shlomo’s six-month-old startup Base44 has brought the concept one step closer to reality.
On Wednesday, website builder Wix announced the acquisition of Base44 for $80 million in cash, confirming details first reported by TechCrunch. The deal marks one of the fastest and most profitable exits for a bootstrapped AI startup this year.
Though not quite a solo operation — Base44 had eight employees who will collectively receive $25 million as part of the deal — Shlomo’s achievement has captured the imagination of the startup community. The company’s meteoric growth and quick exit highlight how AI can supercharge individual and small-team productivity.
Founded just six months ago, Base44 built a vibe-coding platform that allows non-technical users to create fully functional applications using simple text prompts. The system generates database integrations, authentication, analytics, and more, providing a true no-code solution for app development.
Remarkable $80M outcome:
— Ben Lang (@benln) June 18, 2025
• 6 month old company
• No external funding
• $189K in profit in May
• 250K users
• Solo founder pic.twitter.com/SVdFatwsth
The product struck a chord, amassing 250,000 users and reaching profitability by May — posting $189,000 in monthly profit despite steep costs for large language model (LLM) tokens. Shlomo’s transparency about the company’s progress, frequently shared on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter), helped fuel organic growth through word of mouth.
“Base44 is a moonshot experiment — helping everyone, technical or not, build software without coding at all,” Shlomo explained when launching the platform.
Shlomo, a known figure in Israel’s tech scene thanks to his earlier startup Explorium, quickly secured partnerships with major local players like eToro and Similarweb. He also caught the attention of Amazon after choosing to use Anthropic’s Claude LLM via AWS over OpenAI’s models for better performance-to-cost ratio — leading to a demo opportunity at a recent AWS event in Tel Aviv.
The acquisition makes strategic sense for Wix, whose no-code website-building tools are used by millions worldwide. By integrating a profitable LLM-powered vibe-coding platform, Wix can further enhance its suite of offerings for both individuals and businesses.
“This has been a crazy journey so far,” Shlomo wrote on LinkedIn, adding that the acquisition gives Base44 the resources it needs to scale beyond what a bootstrapped startup could achieve alone.
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While it wasn’t a billion-dollar sale, Base44’s rapid success underscores AI’s potential to enable lean, fast-growing companies — and keeps the dream of solo unicorns very much alive.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author’s views are personal and may not reflect the views of CoinBrief.io. Before making any investment decisions, you should always conduct your own research. Coin Brief is not responsible for any financial losses.
