Lovable, the AI-powered app-building platform, has backed a Danish hardware startup, Atech, that wants to introduce “vibe coding” to the process of creating hardware. Lovable was part of an $800,000 pre-seed round that also included a16z’s scout fund, Sequoia Scout Fund, and Nordic Makers.
In a chat with TechCrunch, Atech’s head of customer experience, Gustav Hugod, said the platform’s workings are quite simple. Users buy a starter hardware kit for whatever they are trying to build from Atech’s site. Then, they open a tab at the site, talk to an AI chatbot, describe the hardware concept they’re trying to build, and the AI tool generates code that helps them build a working prototype. Hugod said the company’s user base is pretty broad right now, “from four-year-olds building cars to a hydrogen synthesis plant that needs precise voltage sensing.”
Typically, building any type of hardware prototype requires decades of experience or finding pricy but talented engineers. But Hugod said that as the “accessibility gap of software has collapsed,” so will the difficulty of building in the hardware space. “Hardware, in a democratized world, has to be available to everyone,” he said. The new capital will be used for research and development, marketing, and hiring.