You may have heard the buzz in the startup world about how AI has the potential to create waves of individuals known as "Solo Unicorns" - a term used to define billion-dollar, single-owner companies. Although we haven't seen a true exemplar of this idea yet, Maor Shlomo, an Israeli developer, has recently made us sit up and take notice.

The news is all about how Shlomo's vibe-coding startup, Base44, which is also just half a year old, was sold to Wix for a whopping $80 million in cash, as Wix announced this Wednesday.

Sure, it's not quite a billion, and it's true that Shlomo wasn’t a sole player – with Wix confirming that there were eight employees who will collectively receive $25 million of the $80 million as a "retention" bonus. However, the swift ascension and impressive sale price of Base44 has become the talk of the town in the vibe-coding community.

Having been profitable after only six months as a standalone company and with a user base of 250,000, Base44 has already carved out quite a legacy. Its 31-year-old programmer and creator took to LinkedIn and Twitter to share the journey of this side project turned success story. Shlomo's work caught industry attention, leading him to forge partnerships with major Israeli tech companies like eToro and Similarweb.

Base44, developed under Shlomo's vision is giving people the power to build software without coding, and this idea has resonated with non-programmers. And although Base44 isn't the only vibe-coding company, it's the story of its swift rise that really sets it apart.

To ride this wave of success even further, Shlomo made the strategic choice to sell his company to Wix. He believes the resources Wix offers will only serve to accelerate Base44’s journey.

Wix, on the other hand, will significantly benefit from this acquisition, adding a profitable, fast-growing vibe-coding platform to their existing offerings.

When he launched Base44, Shlomo shared on LinkedIn his plan to help everyone, technical or not, to build software without any coding. A key part of Base44’s appeal is that users can simply input text prompts and the platform will create a complete application, with everything from database to integration.

Shlomo is a known figure in the Israeli startup scene, thanks to Explorium, his other startup backed by Insight Partners. His brother is also a cofounder of AI security startup, Token Security, which recently raised a cool $20 million in funding.

As Shlomo sums it up on LinkedIn on the occasion of Base44’s acquisition announcement, it’s been a "crazy journey so far." Despite the intense growth curve and impressive profit margins, he chose to sell his company to Wix because he believes that it could help them scale and evolve faster.