We’re delighted to announce our investment in Rayon, the collaborative design tool for the architecture, engineering and construction industries (AEC). We have co-led their €4m Seed round alongside existing investor Foundamental, with participation from Seedcamp and angels including renowned architect Norman Foster.
The AEC industries have lagged behind in adopting new technologies, resulting in significant inefficiencies for architects and construction workers. As we’ve seen with the likes of Spacemaker and Infogrid, these industries are amongst the least disrupted by new technology. Design processes in this field have traditionally been siloed, relying on PDFs and outdated tools for communication.
Here comes Rayon: founded in 2021 by co-founders Bastien Dolla and Stanislas Chaillou, they bridge this gap, providing a browser-based platform for teams to collaborate on 2D floor plans in real-time, significantly enhancing efficiency and agility. While initially focused on architects and interior designers, Rayon’s versatility extends to other verticals such as real estate, landscaping, hospitality, logistics, and urban planning.
The software’s capabilities are extensive, allowing users to import various file formats, including images, PDFs, and CAD documents such as DWG and DXF. From drawing and annotations to layouts and styling, Rayon offers a comprehensive toolkit for professionals resulting in up to three times faster project completion, improved quality, and heightened productivity.
This last funding round brings the company’s total to €5.75 million. The new round will be instrumental in expanding the team, particularly in hiring engineering, design, and growth talents to further develop the platform.
Our partner Michiel Kotting who is joining the board mentioned, “There is a trend across productivity tooling of cloud-based, collaborative platforms supplanting overly complex legacy systems and broadening adoption to the long-tail of use cases; we saw this with Google Workspace for business documentation and Figma for product design. Rayon is bringing modern tools to the AEC industry, already showing powerful user enthusiasm. We’re confident that Bastien, Stanislas, and their team have created a new generation of design software that will find customer love.”
We’re excited to partner with Rayon as they build a defining-category business in design.