{"id":32537,"date":"2025-06-25T11:52:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T11:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=32537"},"modified":"2025-06-25T11:52:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T11:52:04","slug":"builder-ai-chief-wizard-sachin-dev-duggal-made-20mn-in-share-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=32537","title":{"rendered":"Builder.ai \u2018Chief Wizard\u2019 Sachin Dev Duggal made $20mn in share sales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=3af93a7f-af21-46cd-9990-62bf93cbd0ab\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Sachin Dev Duggal, the founder and former chief executive of the collapsed Microsoft-backed tech start-up Builder.ai, made at least $20mn through selling shares in the business.<\/p>\n<p>The self-described \u201cchief wizard\u201d of the software company, which raked in more than $500mn from investors on its promise to use artificial intelligence to revolutionise app development, also borrowed against his stake in Builder.ai, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Duggal\u2019s investment firm, SD Squared Ventures, made in excess of $20mn from selling shares in the business, those familiar with the matter said, in transactions that began just before Builder.ai first received venture capital funding nearly seven years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Most of the share sales were concluded before 2023, when the company raised $250mn in a blockbuster funding round led by the Qatar Investment Authority, which secured Builder.ai a valuation of more than $1bn and made it into a rare UK tech \u201cunicorn\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The London-based start-up had also attracted backing of leading investors including New York-based Insight Partners and SoftBank\u2019s AI-focused DeepCore unit. <\/p>\n<p>Builder.ai filed for US bankruptcy protection earlier this month after an internal investigation found evidence of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/926f4969-fda7-4e78-b106-4888c8704bda\" data-trackable=\"link\">potentially bogus sales<\/a> and the company revised down revenues to just a quarter of prior estimates.<\/p>\n<p>US bankruptcy filings also show that SD Squared Ventures was still the company\u2019s largest shareholder at the time of its collapse, with a more than 15 per cent stake.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"n-content-layout\" data-component=\"flourish\" data-component-id=\"23613811\" data-component-type=\"flourish-in-article\">\n<figure class=\"n-content-picture n-content-layout__container\"><a href=\"#23613811\"><picture data-asset-type=\"flourish\" data-flourish-id=\"23613811\" data-flourish-type=\"visualisation\">\n<div id=\"23613811\" class=\"cp-message o-message o-message--inform o-message--notice\" data-o-component=\"o-message\">\n<div class=\"o-message__container\">\n<div class=\"o-message__content\">\n<p class=\"o-message__content-main\">Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/picture><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hong Kong-based investment firm Ion Pacific also provided Duggal with funds secured against his shares through a so-called \u201cstructured transaction\u201d, which has similar characteristics to debt, according to the people.<\/p>\n<p>Ion Pacific had also bought $6mn in shares in Builder.ai from other investors in late 2022, according to PitchBook.<\/p>\n<p>Ion Pacific describes itself as a \u201cspecial-situation\u201d investor in venture capital. The firm\u2019s website states that it offers \u201cpersonal liquidity solutions backed by an equity stake in the company\u201d to tech founders.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Joseph, co-chief executive of Ion Pacific, said his firm\u2019s funds \u201cnever had more than $10mn in exposure\u201d to Builder.ai and had reduced this \u201csignificantly\u201d before the company collapsed.<\/p>\n<p>The Financial Times reported last month that Duggal had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/728ce0ba-9c14-4208-8430-85d033e3b816\" data-trackable=\"link\">sounded out investors<\/a> on a potential deal to buy back the company he founded out of insolvency, in a deal that would require less than $10mn in initial funding.<\/p>\n<p>There is no suggestion that Duggal broke any rules by selling his shares or borrowing against them. Duggal declined to comment.<\/p>\n<aside aria-labelledby=\"aside-label\" class=\"n-content-recommended--single-story n-content-recommended--inset\" data-component=\"recommended\">\n<p class=\"n-content-recommended__title o3-type-body-highlight\">Recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser o-teaser--article o-teaser--small o-teaser--stacked o-teaser--has-image js-teaser\" data-id=\"67f0277a-10fd-463c-8946-af0be2b4028f\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-container js-teaser-image-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/67f0277a-10fd-463c-8946-af0be2b4028f\" data-trackable=\"image-link\" data-trackable-context-story-link=\"image-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-placeholder\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2493\/1402\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-teaser__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2F__origami%2Fservice%2Fimage%2Fv2%2Fimages%2Fraw%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%252Fproduction%252F6c9a3be4-dd1b-495a-825b-e174ad243bcb.jpg%3Fsource%3Dnext-article%26fit%3Dscale-down%26quality%3Dhighest%26width%3D700%26dpr%3D1?source=next&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;dpr=2&amp;width=240\" alt=\"Sachin Dev Duggal surrounded by logos of QIA, Builder.ai and Microsoft\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Earlier this month the FT reported the multiple ways in which the company, under Duggal\u2019s tenure as chief executive, was suspected of inflating revenues. Alleged practices that have come under scrutiny include improperly booked discounts and seemingly circular transactions with key customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Duggal\u2019s lawyers said there were \u201cserious inaccuracies\u201d in the allegations around revenue inflation the FT had requested comment on.<\/p>\n<p>In the weeks before the company unravelled, the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of New York also requested that Builder.ai hand over documents relating to its financial reporting, accounting practices and customer relationships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/3af93a7f-af21-46cd-9990-62bf93cbd0ab\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":32538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tech","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}