AI has made the first version of an app almost suspiciously easy to create. Describe an idea, wait a few minutes and a polished interface appears on screen. But for founders trying to build a mobile business, that impressive demo is often where the easy part ends. The app still has to work on a real phone, manage accounts and data, access native device features, survive payments, produce an iOS or Android build, pass store requirements and remain editable when the product inevitably changes.
Bilt.me was built around that last mile.
The Estonian startup, Bilt.me has raised $700,000 in pre-seed funding, led by Superhero Capital with backing from Bolt founder Markus Villig and Lightyear founder Martin Sokk. Founded in August 2025 by Uku Joost Annus, Kevin Akkermann and Karl Kiilaspää, Bilt began as a hackathon project tackling Apple’s app-testing friction before evolving into an AI mobile app builder designed to move from an initial idea to a live native application.
The origin story is more important than it first appears. Bilt says one of its founders had an app idea and customers in 2025, but neither the agency budget nor the months required to learn mobile development. The team saw a market filling rapidly with AI coding tools while much of the activity remained concentrated on the easier problem of generating web software. Mobile still carried the complications of device testing, native functionality, signing and store distribution.
Bilt’s answer is not simply another text-to-interface generator. A founder can describe an application in natural language, refine it conversationally and preview it on a phone, while the platform generates a React Native and Expo codebase. Bilt says that source code can be synced to GitHub, edited independently or handed to another development team, giving users a route out of the platform rather than locking the product permanently inside a proprietary builder.
That code ownership matters because “AI app builder with code export” has become a distinct buying question in the 2026 market. Builders are increasingly being judged not by how impressive the first prompt looks, but by what happens when a developer needs to take over, custom logic is required or the company wants to operate the product elsewhere. Current search results increasingly make source ownership and GitHub portability explicit comparison criteria.
Shipping is the other half of Bilt’s proposition. The company says it can handle cloud builds, code signing and submission workflows for the Apple App Store and Google Play. Its current product also includes backend capabilities such as authentication, databases and storage, while native applications can use mobile functionality including cameras, location and push notifications.
In practical terms, Bilt is trying to compress a workflow that traditionally required several different disciplines into one conversation: prompt the product, generate the native app, test it on a phone, own the code and move it toward distribution.
The strategy appears to be finding early commercial traction. Bilt has passed six figures in annual recurring revenue, according to the company, with revenue doubling month over month for three consecutive months. Thousands of users are building on the platform; roughly 75% of projects are consumer applications and 25% are private or internal tools, while paid apps created through Bilt are already live on the App Store and Google Play. These metrics are company-reported rather than independently audited.
The new capital will support global expansion and further product development, but the larger opportunity is becoming clearer as AI coding matures.
Generating software is rapidly becoming cheaper. Shipping useful mobile software is not yet equally cheap.
Bilt’s bet is that the winning AI app builder will therefore not be the one that produces the prettiest first screen. It will be the one that survives everything that comes after the prompt: native code, device testing, backend infrastructure, ownership, store submission and eventually a paying customer.
For founders, that difference separates an AI-generated prototype from a mobile business. And that is the layer Bilt is raising $700,000 to own.
About Bilt.me
Bilt.me is an Estonian AI mobile application development startup founded in 2025 by Uku Joost Annus, Kevin Akkermann and Karl Kiilaspää. Its platform turns natural-language instructions into native mobile applications using React Native and Expo, with phone previews, backend infrastructure, GitHub code ownership and publishing workflows for iOS and Android.
