Key takeaways
- Wix acquired Base44 on June 18, 2025 for about $80 million in cash, per Wix's own announcement.
- Maor Shlomo owned 100% of the company. There were no investors to split the money with.
- Base44 was roughly six months old at the sale and had fewer than 10 employees.
- Earn-outs run through 2029. Calcalist calculated on August 4, 2026 that total consideration had passed $150 million, nearly double the headline.
- Base44 was doing a few million dollars of ARR at the sale and reached roughly $150 million ARR by May 2026, per Calcalist.
This article is based on primary sources: Wix's June 18, 2025 acquisition announcement, Wix's Q2 2026 results release of August 4, 2026 and its Q4 2025 report, and founder statements made by Maor Shlomo on X and on Lenny's Podcast. Earn-out figures come from Wix's own financial disclosures as reported by Calcalist. Full source list at the bottom.
The Short Answer: Wix, Since June 2025
Wix.com Ltd., the Israeli website-building company listed on the Nasdaq, has owned Base44 outright since June 18, 2025. It is not a joint venture, not a licensed product, and not independently held. It sits inside Wix's business solutions segment, the line Wix said grew 18% year on year to $153.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, against 14% company-wide.
The seller was one person. That is the part worth slowing down for.
The Solo Founder Who Owned 100%
Maor Shlomo was 31 when he sold Base44. He is an Israeli programmer who served in the Israeli Intelligence Corps, and he had already built a company before this one: he co-founded Explorium in 2017, at 24, and ran it as chief executive. Explorium grew past 100 employees and raised roughly $125 million, with Insight Partners among its backers.
Base44 was the opposite. Shlomo started it as a side project in late 2024, during a trip he took after completing extended reserve duty following the October 7 attacks. He never raised outside money, and he was the sole shareholder on the day Wix bought the company. The purchase price was not spread across a cap table of funds, angels and option holders. It went to him.
Wix separately expected to book about $25 million in salary and equity compensation expense in 2025 relating to Base44's employees, a retention arrangement for a team of fewer than ten people.
Six Months From Side Project to Exit
The speed is why this deal is quoted in every vibe-coding argument online, and the founder's own numbers are the cleanest record of it.
Writing on X in April 2025, Shlomo said it took three weeks to go from $0 to $1 million in annual recurring revenue, and seven weeks to cross 140,000 users. He added that before that point he had failed badly at marketing, the detail most retellings drop.
By the acquisition, TechCrunch reported around 250,000 users, the first 10,000 of them within three weeks of launch. The company was profitable, not merely growing: TechCrunch reported $189,000 of profit in May 2025, after paying for the language-model tokens that made the product work. On Lenny's Podcast on July 6, 2025, Shlomo said the product had passed 400,000 users, that he has severe ADHD, and that he had not written a line of front-end code in three months.
The deal was signed in June 2025, while Israel and Iran were exchanging missile fire.
The $80M Price Tag Is Wrong: What Wix Has Actually Paid
Every summary of this deal says $80 million. As of September 2026 that number understates the price by roughly half, and Wix's own filings are where the difference shows up.
The June 2025 agreement set initial consideration of approximately $80 million plus earn-out payments through 2029, tied to performance targets. Base44 then beat those targets repeatedly.
| Date | Disclosure | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| June 18, 2025 | Wix announcement, initial consideration | ~$80M cash |
| March 4, 2026 | Calcalist, on Wix's Q4 2025 report: Shlomo on track for an additional payout if milestones are met, already recorded as an accounting expense | Up to $90M |
| May 13, 2026 | Calcalist, milestone payout reported | $38M |
| August 4, 2026 | Wix Q2 2026: further Base44 earn-out accrued | $41M |
| August 4, 2026 | Calcalist, total consideration to Shlomo | Above $150M |
One correction to how this is usually written. The $41 million disclosed on August 4, 2026 was booked as a non-cash earn-out accrual, and Wix made no cash earn-out payments that quarter. The same applies to the $90 million flagged in March 2026: Wix recorded it as an accounting expense because management judged Base44 would hit a revenue target, not because money moved. The obligation is real and runs to 2029, but the cash is not all in Shlomo's account today, and anyone reporting these as completed wire transfers is reading a headline rather than a filing.
The direction of travel is not in doubt. The cheapest notable AI acquisition of 2025 keeps getting more expensive, and Wix has been visibly happy about it.
What Happened to Base44's Revenue After the Sale
At the sale, Base44 was small. Wix would only describe it as a few million dollars of annual recurring revenue; the most widely cited estimate is around $3.5 million. What happened next is why the earn-outs kept triggering.
| Milestone | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A few million dollars ARR | June 2025, at acquisition | Wix |
| ~$50M ARR, 2 million users | Late 2025 | Calcalist |
| $100M ARR, nine months after the deal | March 2026, with Wix's Q4 2025 results | Calcalist |
| ~$150M ARR | May 2026 | Calcalist |
Growing revenue roughly fortyfold inside a year is the multiple story that makes an $80 million price look like a mistake in Wix's favour.
Here is the honest limitation, and it is a real one. Growth this fast on a product that pays for every generated token was not profitable growth for Wix. Wix said Base44 entered 2026 with a non-GAAP gross margin near zero, and only guided to roughly 60% in the second half of the year after launching its own model, Base-1, described as the first proprietary large language model built into an app-creation platform. In the second quarter of 2026 Wix reported revenue of $563.1 million, up 15%, and bookings of $569.1 million, up 12%, while swinging to a net loss of $76.4 million against a $57.7 million profit a year earlier. That loss was driven by $27.1 million of restructuring charges and the $41 million Base44 earn-out accrual. Owning the fastest-growing asset in your portfolio can cost you your income statement for a while.
Why This Deal Gets Cited Everywhere
Base44 is the price anchor at the bottom of the vibe-coding market, and the contrast with the rest of the category is the whole point.
Compare it with SpaceX's $60B Cursor deal, where a four-year-old company with four founders and billions in venture capital sold for 750 times what Wix paid. Or with Lovable, which stayed independent and raised at a $13.3 billion valuation instead of selling; that structure is set out in our breakdown of who owns Lovable. Base44 is the only one of the three where a single person owned the entire asset at the moment of sale, and the only one where the buyer's later disclosures let you watch the real price assemble in public.
For a different corner of the AI startup world, built on content and marketing workflows rather than app building, see our AirOps founder story.
For a very different kind of acquisition arithmetic, where a brand changed hands for a fraction of its former worth, see the bankruptcy sale explained in our Instant Pot piece.
Base44 ownership FAQ
Who founded Base44?
Maor Shlomo, an Israeli programmer who co-founded the data company Explorium in 2017 at age 24. He started Base44 as a side project in late 2024 and was its sole shareholder until the sale.
How much did Wix pay for Base44?
Approximately $80 million in cash at signing on June 18, 2025, plus earn-out payments running through 2029. Calcalist reported on August 4, 2026 that total consideration to Shlomo had passed $150 million, though part of that is accrued rather than paid.
Did Base44 raise venture capital?
No. Shlomo bootstrapped it and turned down outside money, which is why he owned 100% of the company at the exit.
What is Base44's revenue now?
Base44 reached roughly $150 million in annual recurring revenue by May 2026, per Calcalist, up from a few million dollars at the June 2025 acquisition. Wix does not report Base44 revenue as a separate line item, so figures after May 2026 are not publicly broken out as of September 2026.
What I am watching next
1. Whether the earn-outs convert to cash on schedule. The accruals are booked; payment runs to 2029 and depends on targets Base44 keeps hitting.
2. Base-1 and the margin question. Wix guided to roughly 60% non-GAAP gross margin in the second half of 2026, from near zero. If a proprietary model delivers that, the deal looks cheap twice over.
3. Whether Shlomo stays. Founders who sell at 31, own all of it, and watch the price double afterwards rarely stay indefinitely.
Sources
1. Wix press release, acquisition of Base44, June 18, 2025 Wix press room. Establishes the acquisition date, the approximately $80 million cash consideration, and the earn-out structure through 2029.
2. Wix Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results, August 4, 2026 GlobeNewswire. Establishes Q2 2026 revenue of $563.1 million, bookings of $569.1 million, the net loss of $76.4 million, the $41 million Base44 earn-out accrual, the $27.1 million of restructuring charges, and the Base-1 model launch and margin guidance.
3. Maor Shlomo, post on X, April 2025 x.com/MS_BASE44. Founder statement establishing three weeks from $0 to $1 million ARR and seven weeks to 140,000 users.
4. Lenny's Podcast interview with Maor Shlomo, July 6, 2025 Lenny's Newsletter. Founder statements on sole ownership, bootstrapping, 400,000 users, ADHD, and not writing front-end code.
Secondary sources:
5. TechCrunch, June 18, 2025 6-month-old, solo-owned vibe coder Base44 sells to Wix for $80M cash. Establishes the $25 million retention pool, the sub-10 employee count, 10,000 users in three weeks, roughly 250,000 users at acquisition, and $189,000 of profit in May 2025.
6. Calcalist / CTech, June 18, 2025, March 4, 2026, May 13, 2026 and August 4, 2026 calcalistech.com. Establishes Shlomo's age and Explorium background, the ARR milestones of $50 million, $100 million and $150 million, the $38 million and $41 million earn-out disclosures, and total consideration above $150 million.