Cloud Stocks: Analysis Of Wix.com’s Base44 Acquisition
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According to a recent report, the global website builder software market is estimated to grow 7% annually from $2.4 billion to $3.8 billion by 2032. Wix.com (Nasdaq: WIX) is expanding its presence in the market by adding to its AI capabilities.
Wix’s financials
For the first quarter, Wix.com’s revenues grew 13% to $473.7 million, ahead of market estimates of $472.5 million. Non GAAP earnings per share came in at $1.55, falling short of the market expectations of $1.66 per share.
By segment, revenues from the Creative Subscriptions segment grew 11% to $337.7 million, reflecting increased adoption of AI-enhanced tools. Revenues from the Business Solutions segment grew 18% to $136 million.
Looking forward, Wix projects Q2 revenue between $485-$489 million, and expects to end the year with revenues of $1.97-$2 billion with bookings of $2.025–$2.06 billion.
Wix’s Base44 Acquisition
Earlier this month, Wix announced plans to acquire Base44, an AI-based vibe-coding startup, for approximately $80 million. Base44 was founded six months ago by Israeli entrepreneur Maor Shlomo and a small team. It emerged as a hyperscale “vibe coding” startup that enables anyone to create fully functional, production ready applications through natural language prompts.
Vibe coding was introduced earlier this year to emphasize the significance of AI tools in software development. It refers to a coding approach where users express their intention using plain speech and then AI tools convert those directions into an executable code.
Base44’s solution handles everything from databases and authentication to deployment through a chat-based interface. Prior to setting up Base44, Shlomo was an adviser to a large nonprofit organization where he realized that there weren’t many options available for organizations without in-house developers who wanted to build simple tools such as internal portals and back-office systems. The options at hand were either very expensive, or too complicated. He set about building Base44 to address this opportunity.
Since its launch, Base44 has seen strong traction. It has over 250,000 users, and has partnerships with companies like eToro and SimilarWeb. The startup was bootstrapped with no prior external funding. It reported that it had generated $189,000 in profits in the month of May alone.
Wix plans on integrating Base44’s AI capabilities into its offerings to help accelerate its presence into intent-based software creation. It will be able to add a conversational, AI-driven layer atop its core platform. Base44 will continue to operate independently, while gaining access to Wix’s global distribution and infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Wix’s stock is trading at $158.68 with a market capitalization of $8.8 billion. It touched a 52-week high of $247.11 in February this year, and has recovered from the 52-week low of $137.94 that it had fallen to in April this year.
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Disclosure: All investors should make their own assessments based on their own research, informed interpretations, and risk appetite. This article expresses my own opinions based on my own ...
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