Draftaid — Go from 3D models to CAD drawings using AI

Draftaid, a Y Combinator Winter 2024 company, is building what it describes as “GitHub Copilot for CAD” — the world’s first generative AI for CAD manufacturing drawings, turning hours of manual drafting work into seconds. Every product that is manufactured — from construction to aerospace, automotive, durable goods, and electronics — relies on engineering drawings. Yet engineers and designers still create these essential documents painstakingly by hand, a process that costs teams millions in time and quality.

Founded in 2023 and based in Toronto, Canada, Draftaid was born out of Abdullah Elqabbany’s experience as a mechanical design team member, where he created thousands of drawings and longed for a more efficient process. He partnered with Tahsin Rahman, a neighbor with a PhD in AI, and Mohammed Al-Arnawoot, a seasoned engineering leader with experience in construction software, to turn that vision into a product. Since launching, Draftaid has secured paid pilots with subsequent contracts valued at $150,000 — early validation that the market is ready for AI-native drafting tools.

Mohammed Al-Arnawoot, co-founder and CEO, studied Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo with a focus on manufacturing systems. Before Draftaid, he served as Director of Engineering at Dozr, a Series B construction tech company, and prior to that as VP of Engineering at Emagin, acquired by Innovyze, where he led product solution development. The team has since grown to roughly 14 people and is actively hiring, with two open roles: Customer Success Engineer and Founding ML Engineer.