HoneyBook Acquires AI Vibe Coding Startup Fine

HoneyBook has acquired startup Fine.dev, which specializes in artificial intelligence-assisted coding and rapid application development.

“By bringing Fine.dev’s founding team into HoneyBook’s product and development organization, the company gains expertise in vibe coding—an emerging approach where AI interprets ideas into fully functional apps, allowing entrepreneurs  to move from idea to working prototype in minutes,” the customer relationship management company said in a news release Tuesday (Sept. 30).

Founded by engineers and entrepreneurs Haggai Hofland, Jonathan Harel and Dan Leshem, Fine has developed AI-assisted development techniques that accelerate software product creation, the release added.

By joining HoneyBook’s product team, they will use their expertise to help create “hyper-personalized applications” embedded within HoneyBook’s platform to deliver “tailored, time-saving tools” that adapt to each small business’s workflows.

“At HoneyBook, we believe the future of how small businesses work lies in empowering them with tools that are as dynamic as their businesses,” said Oz Alon, Honeybook co-founder and CEO.

“By bringing in the Fine.dev team, we’re adding unique AI expertise that will help us build and deploy new capabilities faster than traditional development allows, ultimately giving our members more powerful tools to manage their businesses.”

The release notes that this is the latest example of HoneyBook advancing its AI capabilities, with the company having launched its AI-powered business management offering in March. Other tools include automated email drafting that adapts to customer language preferences, and comprehensive business analysis and reporting.

As PYMNTS has written, AI-powered tools can help small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) compete with their larger competitors.

That report used the example of Alex Schlesinger, founder and chief executive of insurance firm Active Mutual. Faced with the difficult reality of training sales agents without the budgets or trainers larger firms could afford, he turned to an AI chatbot.

“Our small business had been struggling for a while to give our agents the kind of in-depth training bigger companies can afford,” Schlesinger told PYMNTS. “But that changed this year when we started using Gemini to roleplay tough conversations.”

Rather than hiring expensive coaches or having sales agents sit through lengthy workshops, Schlesinger said his company used Gemini to simulate conversations so agents could practice responses in a realistic setting.

The outcome? “It prepares my agents better and faster than any sales course,” Schlesinger said. “They actually find the practice sessions incredibly helpful and build real skills.”

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