What began as a desperate moment for founders Levan Kvirkvelia and Daniel Dhawan turned into a wild startup success story. The duo behind Rork, a mobile app builder powered by text prompts, went from maxed-out credit cards and sleeping on floors to securing a $2.8 million seed round and building a product with over $550,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR)—all within weeks.
Just months ago, the founders were financially drained. Dhawan, based in San Francisco, was crashing on a friend’s floor with $15,000 in credit card debt. Kvirkvelia, in Georgia, was building the product’s infrastructure, also deep in debt. Both had a history of successful mobile apps, but their latest venture was floundering after an early pivot.
That all changed with a single tweet.
On February 24, Matt Shumer—an angel investor and CEO of OthersideAI—posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Rork was better than competing product Bolt. He attached a demo video and declared, “My jaw just DROPPED… Rork blows Bolt out of the water.” The post went viral, racking up over 1 million views in hours.
Within 15 minutes, investor Austen Allred wired in $100,000. By the end of the day, others like Hustle Fund’s Elizabeth Yin and Founders Inc. were on board, bringing the total to $350,000. The momentum didn’t stop there.
Rork: No-Code Mobile App Development by Text Prompt
Rork empowers non-technical users to create iOS apps with nothing more than a text prompt. Unlike web-based AI code tools, Rork tackles the complex world of native mobile development, making it accessible for the first time.
This wasn’t the founders’ original plan. They had spent months building a different product—more like Cursor—but changed course after a competing startup, Lovable, went viral. Instead of competing head-to-head, they pivoted. “Let’s make a Lovable for mobile,” Kvirkvelia said. “Nobody’s done that well yet.”
Their bet paid off.
The same day another rival, Bolt, launched a similar mobile app builder, the Rork team launched too—on X. That timing proved critical.
After the viral tweet, investor intros came pouring in. One led to Andrew Chen, the general partner behind Andreessen Horowitz’s Speedrun program. Although Dhawan already had a term sheet in hand, Chen moved fast to win the deal. Within days, a16z committed to lead Rork’s $2.8 million seed round through Speedrun, which also gives the team access to $5 million in perks from partners like AWS, OpenAI, Stripe, and more.
Growth Fueled by Paying Users
Unlike many early-stage startups, Rork didn’t just raise money—it attracted real customers. In just five days after the viral post, Rork generated $100,000 in revenue. Two months later, the team hit a $550,000 ARR milestone.
Dhawan now has his own apartment. The company is expanding. And investors are watching closely as Rork carves out its niche in the exploding no-code app builder market.
“Daniel and Levan are technical polymaths who deeply understand mobile development,” Chen said. “They’re exactly the type of founders we’re excited to back.”
With a massive funding boost, solid user growth, and a powerful viral launch under their belts, the Rork team is poised to reshape mobile app development for a new generation of creators.
