QIA Leads $250 Million Funding Round for App Platform Builder.ai

The Qatar Investment Authority is leading a series D funding round of more than $250 million for Builder.ai, the mobile app development startup backed by Microsoft Corp.

(Bloomberg) — The Qatar Investment Authority is leading a series D funding round of more than $250 million for Builder.ai, the mobile app development startup backed by Microsoft Corp.

The sovereign wealth fund was joined by existing and new investors including Iconiq Capital, Jungle Ventures and Insight Partners, London-based Builder.ai said in a statement Tuesday. That takes the total amount raised by the company to more than $450 million.

Builder.ai offers a platform for businesses to create custom smartphone apps while requiring little or no coding. Its tools help pull an app together with reusable components which can then be customized further by Builder.ai’s developers, allowing a faster turnaround than traditional outsourcing of software projects.

The company, started in 2016 by serial entrepreneur Sachin Dev Duggal, raised a $100 million series C funding round in March last year led by Insight Partners. The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp., Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo, Lakestar and SoftBank Group Corp.’s DeepCore incubator have also invested in the company.

Builder.ai said earlier this month that Microsoft will make an investment in the company as part of a strategic partnership. The startup’s customers include the British Broadcasting Corp., NBCUniversal and Thai retailer Siam Makro Pcl, its website shows.

QIA manages about $475 billion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. It’s been plowing more money into tech startups and health-care companies across the globe, participating in funding rounds for everything from Indian food-delivery platform Swiggy to US genomic medicine company Ensoma.

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