Exclusive: Synaps raises $3.6M to build an AI design canvas

This article was published on April 30, 2026 Five months after a beta launch in Tirana, before some of the world’s leading architects, the Austrian-Albanian startup has 60,000 users, and hundreds of paying customers. In November 2025, Synaps, a Vienna-based AI design startup founded by three Albanian-born entrepreneurs, chose an unusual venue for its beta launch: Tirana, the Albanian capital that has become one of Europe’s most active and closely watched architectural scenes, and one of the few cities on the continent where a genuinely ambitious public building programme is still underway. The audience included some of the world’s most prominent architectural names and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, himself a trained painter with a track record of commissioning architecturally significant urban projects. Five months later, Synaps is announcing a $3.6 million pre-seed funding round from US-based accelerator and VC Plug and Play, and Zagreb-based Fil Rouge Capital. The company says it has reached 60,000 total users, 1,500 daily active users, and hundreds of paying customers, all while still in beta, before the first full version of the product has shipped. “We wanted to demonstrat