South African AI Coding Platform HyperDev Raises $1M+ Pre-Seed, Hits 100K Users in Three Months

HyperDev, an AI-assisted coding platform operating in Europe and South Africa, has raised more than $1 million (R16 million) in pre-seed funding from European and UK venture investors. The startup has grown to nearly 100,000 users in less than three months, driven by its proprietary 'Guided Mode' that addresses what competitors miss—converting AI-generated code into deployable applications rather than just producing code snippets.

The founding team includes Piotr Sobolewski, a former OpenAI contributor to ChatGPT technology, and Riaz Moola, who previously worked on AI methods at Google for tools like Gemini. According to lead investor Falk Albers of Loom Ventures, the investment reflects HyperDev's combination of proprietary AI technology with built-in distribution. Since launching Guided Mode, the platform has nearly doubled user retention rates, with developers across 14 countries now building mobile apps, e-commerce stores, and fintech solutions on the platform.