Duggal’s alleged financial transgressions fueled the most spectacular collapse yet of the generative AI era.
Photographer: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile/Getty Images
How an ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ Brought the First Big Bust to AI Boom
Sachin Dev Duggal helped Builder.ai reach a $1.5 billion valuation. Then its board ousted him amid allegations of inflated revenue and the startup filed for bankruptcy.
When the world’s elite gathered in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2024, Sachin Dev Duggal reveled in his role as the founder of a bona fide artificial intelligence unicorn. His startup, Builder.ai, sponsored glitzy events with celebrities and magazine editors. The BBC featured him on air as an expert in the buzzy technology. Builder.ai’s “Chief Wizard,” as Duggal called himself, told another interviewer at Davos that generative AI is “the cape that you make people superheroes with.”
Whatever magic Duggal once conjured is now gone. A year after his Davos appearance, he was pushed out as chief executive as investors began to suspect him of inflating revenue and mismanaging funds. The startup’s board later restated sales and a major lender seized virtually all of its cash, forcing the company into bankruptcy in June.