ai-website-builder
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Bluehost Wants to Make the Web Feel Like One Big Blue Button
The 23-year-old host built its name by making WordPress less intimidating. Now it is trying to turn domains, stores, support and AI agents into a single small-business operating panel.
Elementor Wants to Be the Operating System for the 22 Million Websites It Helped Build
The WordPress page builder grew by giving designers control without code. A decade later, it is trying to turn that beachhead into one connected business for building, hosting and running the web.
Placester
Placester is a Boston-based real estate technology company that gives agents, teams and brokerages a no-code way to build IDX-ready websites and run their marketing. Founded in 2011 by former agent Matt Barba and technologist Frederick Townes, it pairs drag-and-drop website building with MLS/IDX listing search, a built-in CRM, and email automation. After raising roughly $100M-plus in venture funding and acquiring RealSatisfied, Barba and a group of investors bought the company back from its VCs in 2020 to refocus on its core product and customers. Placester says its tools have served on the order of 400,000 real estate professionals.
beehiiv
beehiiv is a newsletter platform founded by ex-Morning Brew engineers. It provides an all-in-one infrastructure for creators and publishers to build, grow, and monetize newsletters, websites, and podcasts. Unlike competitors like Substack, beehiiv does not take a revenue cut from creator subscriptions, instead monetizing through flat SaaS fees and its native ad network. It powers over 130,000 newsletters and generates over $30M in annual revenue.
B12
B12 is a New York-based software company that builds an AI-powered, all-in-one platform for professional service providers - lawyers, accountants, consultants, and other small firms - to get online and run their businesses. Its AI generates a complete, industry-specific website in about 60 seconds, then pairs that automation with on-platform human designers, copywriters, and SEO specialists through a system the company calls Orchestra. Beyond websites, B12 bundles scheduling, intake forms, e-signatures, invoicing, payments, email marketing, and a client contact manager into one subscription.
Nitesh Banta
Nitesh Banta is the co-founder and CEO of B12, a New York-based AI website builder and online presence platform for professional service firms. A Harvard graduate who spent five years investing at General Catalyst and co-founded the student fund Rough Draft Ventures, he teamed up with his middle-school classmate Adam Marcus in 2015 to bet on a shift from do-it-yourself software to do-it-for-you software where AI and human experts work side by side. B12 has raised more than $40M and helped over 150,000 firms get online.