What Happened to Berri.ai? The Rise and Quiet Fall of a Promising AI Startup

Ever wondered why Berri.ai — a startup once heralded as the low-code holy grail for AI app builders — suddenly vanished from the scene? Despite securing funding, joining Y Combinator, and riding the generative AI wave, the platform has gone dark. Its website is offline, its social accounts are collecting dust, and no official closure has been announced.

So what happened?

Here’s the short answer: Berri.ai couldn’t find sustainable traction in an increasingly crowded market. And with limited funding and growing competition, the company quietly faded into obscurity.

But the long answer? That’s where the real story lies.

What Was Berri.ai?

Founded in 2023 by Ishaan Jaffer and Krrish Dholakia, Berri.ai emerged with a clear mission — make it ridiculously easy for businesses to create ChatGPT-style apps without writing reams of backend code.

The core offering was an API platform enabling low-code/no-code development of large language model (LLM) applications. For SaaS startups and proto-enterprises dabbling in generative AI, Berri.ai promised a shortcut: fast deployment, functional prototypes, and shareable web apps built on the backs of GPT-3, GPT-4, and other LLMs.

The company’s most public milestone was its participation in Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 (W23) batch, a significant badge of honor in startup circles. It also raised $1.6 million in early-stage funding that year, positioning itself as an up-and-comer in the AI infrastructure landscape.

For a brief moment in time, Berri.ai was on AI builders’ radar. But that moment didn’t last.

Why Did Berri.ai Fail?

Short Answer:

Berri.ai failed to gain long-term traction in a crowded, fast-moving market and didn’t secure enough funding or users to sustain its operations.

Long Answer:

Let’s unpack the multi-layered reasons why Berri.ai ultimately couldn’t stay afloat.

1. Weak Product-Market Fit

While the idea of low-code AI app builders was hot, it's unclear whether Berri.ai solved a pain point urgent enough for businesses to adopt at scale.

• There was limited evidence of widespread usage.
• No meaningful customer reviews appeared on major marketplaces like Futurepedia and SoftwareSuggest.
• Some users flagged the platform on Futuretools for shady practices or disappointing performance — red flags when trust is paramount.

2. Monetization and Revenue Struggles

Berri.ai offered tiered pricing (Free, Pro, Enterprise), but with weak usage numbers, even paid tiers likely didn’t generate much recurring revenue.

• Without viral growth or enterprise partnerships, the freemium model likely put more pressure on burn rate than it helped alleviate.
• The lack of business-focused integrations may have limited interest from high-paying SaaS clients.

3. Competitive Headwinds

During its short run, Berri.ai had to contend with:

• Startups like Pickaxe, FieldDay, and Backengine offering similar LLM app tooling.
• Dominant players like OpenAI introducing fine-tuning and assistant APIs, reducing the need for a middleman like Berri.ai.
• Increasing commodification of AI app components — making it harder for any single platform to stand out.

In short, Berri.ai didn't build enough of a moat.

4. Funding Gaps and Scaling Constraints

The company raised $1.6 million in 2023, but there’s no public indication that Berri.ai raised any subsequent funding rounds.

• AI startups are notoriously capital-intensive due to infrastructure, dev ops, and rapid iteration needs.
• As buzz cooled or metrics plateaued, investors may have lost interest in doubling down.

Without continuous cash injections — or strong revenue — runway likely dried up.

5. Leadership and Directional Uncertainty

There’s no clear evidence of leadership failure, pivot attempts, or public resignations. But the silence itself is telling.

• Neither Jaffer nor Dholakia have commented publicly on the company’s disappearance.
• Instead, both appear to be focused on a new endeavor: LiteLLM — a tool closely related to Berri.ai's mission but potentially a rebranded or re-scoped continuation.

Was LiteLLM always Plan B? Or Plan A all along?

6. Timing and Market Volatility

Berri.ai entered the fray at a time when:

• Developers were flooded with low-code AI tools, many of them free or bundled with other services.
• AI governance, data privacy, and regulatory costs were on the rise, adding friction for any app-builder layer.
• The novelty of building a GPT-powered app wore off quickly as foundational platforms (like ChatGPT itself) became more customizable out of the box.

In other words — brilliant timing for hype, not so much for stickiness.

Could Berri.ai Have Survived?

Possibly — had it pivoted faster, found a niche customer base, or refocused on developer-first tools like LiteLLM earlier in its journey.

Some of the team clearly persisted through LiteLLM, which continues to show GitHub activity as of March 2025. That suggests the technical vision may live on, even if the brand did not.

A Competitive Comparison: Why Pickaxe Survived

Let’s compare Berri.ai to Pickaxe, a rival platform still operational.

What did Pickaxe do differently?

• Community Building: Pickaxe invested heavily in user tutorials, app templates, and builder showcases — turning hobby devs into promoters.
• Effective Monetization: Leaner pricing, clearer value proposition, and paid features that actually gated compelling use cases.
• Consistent Updates & Communication: Frequent updates, roadmap transparency, and trust-building through customer support dialogs.

In contrast, Berri.ai’s product felt opaque, and its marketing momentum petered out too soon.

Final Thoughts: The Paradox of “Too Early Before Too Late”

Berri.ai’s failure isn’t an indictment of its idea — just its execution, positioning, and perhaps its timing.

Doing AI right in 2023–2024 meant more than having the right API; it meant being loud, useful, sticky, and differentiated. Berri.ai arguably checked none of those boxes reliably enough.

But in its brief arc, it spotlighted something important: There is huge demand for tools that simplify complex LLM workflows. The steady evolution of LiteLLM suggests that while Berri.ai flamed out, its spirit might yet live on — just in a different shell.

FAQs About Berri.ai

Who founded Berri.ai?
Berri.ai was co-founded by Ishaan Jaffer and Krrish Dholakia in 2023.

What did Berri.ai do?
It was a low-code/no-code platform that enabled businesses to create ChatGPT and LLM-powered web apps using a simple API interface.

When did Berri.ai shut down?
There’s no official date, but the company’s website became inaccessible and its social updates ceased by late 2024, indicating the company shut down sometime in that year.

How much funding did Berri.ai raise?
Berri.ai raised $1.6 million in seed funding in 2023, primarily after joining Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 cohort.

Why did Berri.ai fail?
A mix of financial difficulties, lack of user adoption, market saturation, and more compelling competitors led to its quiet shutdown.

Is Berri.ai completely dead?
Operationally, yes — the platform is no longer accessible. However, some of its tech appears maintained in open-source form via LiteLLM repositories on GitHub as of March 2025.

Even in today’s AI gold rush, having a shovel isn’t enough — you need to be in the right place, digging the right way. Berri.ai had a great shovel. It just never quite struck gold.