Synaps, a Vienna-based startup building what it calls an “AI Canvas” for architects, closed a $3.6 million pre-seed round led by U.S. venture firm Plug and Play Ventures and Fil Rouge Capital, the most active VC platform in the Adriatic and Balkan region. The company targets the estimated 200 million drafters worldwide who spend significant working hours on design and rendering.
Product and Traction
The core product is Vecy AI, a generative vector-based floor plan drawing tool that creates architectural plans from text inputs. Five months after its November 2025 beta launch in Tirana, Synaps reports 60,000 registered users, 1,500 daily active users, and several hundred paying customers, according to Trending Topics.
The full version, planned for summer 2026, will include more than 20 AI tools for drafting and post-production. The company has set a growth target of 300,000 users by end of 2026 and plans a seed round “in the double-digit millions” for Q4 2026.
The Team
Three co-founders of Albanian origin built Synaps after studying and living in Vienna: Brendon Ahmeti (CEO), Agron Bajraktari, and Kevin Cobaj. Since the beta launch, the team expanded from four to 17 employees. The company operates from Vienna with a new office in San Francisco.
Vertical Agent Positioning
Synaps joins a growing category of startups building domain-specific agent tools rather than general-purpose platforms. Ethos raised $22.75 million for AI recruiting agents. Cohere Health targets healthcare agent workflows. Elysian Softech raised $15 million for no-code agent building. The pattern: narrow the domain, deepen the workflow integration, compete on specialization rather than breadth.
The challenge is the incumbent. Autodesk generates annual revenues in the billions from AutoCAD and its architecture suite. Synaps bets that agent-native workflows, where iterative AI refinement replaces manual drafting, can displace tools designed for mouse-and-keyboard precision. Whether 60,000 beta users and $3.6 million translates into a real Autodesk competitor depends on whether architects value AI-generated speed over manual control in production workflows.