When Tech Collapses: What Builder.ai’s Downfall Teaches Us About Resilience For AI Tools 

Builder.ai was once a standout in the AI software scene – backed by hundreds of millions in funding and trusted by global brands. But by mid-2025, it collapsed into administration, leaving customers scrambling for access to core software, infrastructure, and data.

The collapse is a clear reminder: even high-profile technology vendors can fail, and when they do, the knock-on effects can be serious – especially for customers with no continuity safeguards in place.

What Happens When an AI Software Vendor Fails?

Whether you’re relying on a SaaS platform or a licensed third-party software solution, a supplier collapse can leave you:

  • At risk of downtime for a key system, causing compliance breaches or severe operational disruption
  • Without access to critical source code, infrastructure or your data
  • Unable to maintain, rebuild or support your software and users

AI software vendor failure isn’t just an IT problem – it’s a legal, financial and operational one that puts reputations at risk.

Software Escrow for AI Tools That Works When It Matters

At The Escrow Company, we help thousands of organisations in USA, Canada, UK, Australia and across the world protect themselves from vendor risk with reliable, independent software escrow solutions.

Here’s how we help:

Source Code Escrow

We securely hold your vendor’s source code, documentation, build instructions and more and release it to you if specific triggers are met, such as supplier insolvency or support termination. This ensures you retain access to the intellectual property needed to support and future-proof your business-critical systems.

SaaS Escrow

If your platform is cloud-based, source code alone typically isn’t enough to recover. Our SaaS Escrow solutions are designed to protect not just the code, but live application environment access, deployment materials and client data. In the event of supplier failure, you can continue to operate or transition smoothly, with confidence that everything you need is available for recovery.

Optional Verification

For clients who want the assurance of the useability of assets in the software or SaaS escrow and knowledge transfer from the software vendors, we offer independent verification services. These confirm that deposited materials are complete, current and functional to deploy or maintain the solution— and importantly demonstrate how to use them in a software or SaaS escrow event. From simple deposit audits to full build-and-deploy tests, our verification options are flexible and scalable to your risk level.

Software Escrow for AI Tools: A New Class of Continuity

AI-driven platforms like Builder.ai, introduce unique challenges. In many cases, it’s not just the code that matters, but the data, training pipelines and model weights that power the software.

Traditional software escrow doesn’t always cover these elements, at The Escrow Company, we understand how to design software escrow arrangements that reflect the true value of your AI supplier relationship and materials required if your supplier could no longer support the solution for you.

We can help you structure agreements that cover:

  • Access to relevant materials such as training data and AI model artefacts
  • Documentation of fine-tuning processes or pipelines
  • Recovery of hosted environments that support inference or training

As AI adoption accelerates, working with a software escrow provider who understands both IP protection and data continuity is essential. 

Who Should Be Thinking About Software Escrow for AI Tools Right Now?

  • Companies embedding third-party software or AI into their product
  • Organisations in regulated industries with continuity or outsourcing obligations
  • Procurement and legal teams performing vendor due diligence
  • Any business that can’t afford software or SaaS disruption should a third party fail to continue providing a solution.

Secure Your Continuity Today

Builder.ai’s collapse won’t be the last in this space. In a volatile software landscape and as companies and investors find their feet with AI, proactive risk protection isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s essential for third party business critical systems

At The Escrow Company, we’ll help you assess your exposure and structure a solution that protects your business, your customers, and your reputation.

Book a free consultation to explore:

We don’t just hold code. We deliver tangible outcomes for continuity.