Drafted, the AI-powered home design startup founded by Nick Donahue, has raised $16 million in its latest round of seed funding as it looks to bring a more flexible, software-like experience to residential design. First reported by Business Insider, the nine-month-old company is using artificial intelligence to help users turn early home ideas into floor plans and 3D layouts. The round includes backing from Buckley Ventures, Y Combinator, Pinterest cofounder Ben Silbermann, and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.
For Connected Design readers, the news is especially timely: Donahue is slated to join our upcoming AI Roundtable, where industry voices will discuss how artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape design workflows, client expectations, visualization, planning, and the broader built environment.
Drafted’s pitch, which Donahue shared during a recent Connected Design Podcast interview, is fairly straightforward. Rather than starting with complex professional software or static stock plans, users enter basic project details such as lot size, square footage, room count, and design preferences. The platform then generates floor plans and 3D renderings that can be adjusted and regenerated quickly.
Speed and flexibility are central to Donahue’s vision. Home design has traditionally required homeowners to choose between two imperfect options: hiring an architect, which can be expensive and time-intensive, or purchasing a stock plan, which is more affordable but far less customizable, and thus desirable for the luxury client. Drafted is attempting to occupy the space between those models by giving consumers, builders, architects, and developers a faster way to explore viable design directions before moving into formal planning.
As Donahue told us, the platform has already drawn significant early interest. The company has seen 250,000 website visitors since launching five months ago, with users generating more than 300,000 floor plans in the past month. More than one-third of visitors are homebuyers, while other users include architects, builders, and developers. A big reason for the recent uptick is the fact that the platform added a free-to-use option—a decision that’s also given their model an enormous amount of input and data as it continually improves itself.
The company also reflects a larger shift underway across architecture, design, and integration industries. AI tools are moving beyond image generation and into more practical workflows: planning, iteration, documentation, feasibility, and decision-making. In our own recent survey on the use of AI in their workflows, nearly 80 percent of respondents told us that they are either actively using these tools in their businesses or at least experimenting with them.
Donahue brings prior experience to those questions. Before Drafted, he founded Atmos, a custom home design startup that used technology to streamline the design process. Atmos raised roughly $20 million and operated for several years before shutting down in early 2025, after higher interest rates made it harder for clients to move forward with the homes they had designed. With Drafted, Donahue is returning to the same problem with an AI-first approach and a more scalable software model.
The funding comes at a moment when residential design and construction are both under pressure to become faster, more efficient, and more responsive to individual needs. Whether AI becomes a front-end ideation tool, a professional productivity layer, or a more integrated part of the building process remains an open question. Drafted’s early traction (and our own AI research) suggests that homeowners and professionals alike are at least eager to experiment with these kinds of tools.
