Artificial intelligence (AI) software development start-up HyperDev has raised more than $1 million (over R15 million) in pre-seed funding from venture capital investors in Europe and the UK, less than three months after launching its generative AI coding platform.
The company, which operates in Europe and SA, says its platform is approaching 100 000 users across 14 countries, driven by demand for a new AI capability called Guided Mode.
Guided Mode aims to help developers and non-technical users turn AI-generated code into deployable software.
According to HyperDev, the funding will support continued product development as it seeks to address shortcomings in first-generation AI coding tools, which it says often generate code that cannot easily be deployed into production.
"We backed HyperDev because they combine genuine AI R&D depth with a built-in distribution channel of millions of developers,” says Falk Albers, MD of Reinsurance Intelligence Quotient and general partner at Loom Ventures.
“While most vibe coding tools are thin wrappers around third-party LLMs, HyperDev is building proprietary technology that makes code generation actually useful. That combination of real tech and built-in distribution is rare at any stage − at pre-seed, it's exceptional."
Unlike conventional AI coding assistants that focus primarily on generating code, HyperDev's Guided Mode is designed to help users navigate the steps required to transform AI-generated output into functioning websites, applications and other software products, says the company.
The platform also enables non-technical users to collaborate with developers to complete and deploy AI-generated software.
The company says this approach addresses one of the biggest limitations of existing AI coding tools by focusing on software delivery rather than code generation alone.
"Every AI coding tool on the market was built on the assumption that generating code was the hard part. We built HyperDev because we knew the hard part was what came after, and nobody else seems to be solving that," notes Piotr Sobolewski, CTO and co-founder of HyperDev.
HyperDev was founded by Sobolewski, who previously worked at OpenAI and contributed to the technology behind ChatGPT, and Riaz Moola, who previously worked at Google on AI methods that later became used in products such as Gemini.
Both founders also conducted AI research at leading universities, focusing on technologies that help users better understand and work with outputs generated by large language models.
The company says user engagement has improved significantly since the introduction of Guided Mode.
"AI app builders are seeing high user churn, so retention is the metric that matters most. Since the launch of Guided Mode, we've seen a near doubling in the retention rate of users," says Kenne Loubser, CMO at HyperDev.
Anton Moulder, head of product at HyperDev, adds that the platform was designed to support a broader range of software creators beyond experienced engineering teams.
"The platforms that dominate this space were built by people who assumed developers would use AI the way a small number of well-resourced engineers use it. Most of the world's builders do not have that safety net. We built HyperDev for them − and the growth tells us we were right," Moulder points out.
According to the company, users have employed Guided Mode to build a range of applications, including mobile apps, e-commerce stores, personal websites, fintech products and edtech platforms.
HyperDev also integrates with the HyperionDev online education platform, giving users access to university-backed technical training and software development courses aimed at improving AI and programming skills.
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