SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Motif, the AI-powered design platform for architects, engineers and general contractors, today announced its inclusion on Forbes's coveted "Next Billion-Dollar Startups" list for 2025. The recognition marks Motif among the 25 most promising venture-backed companies in the United States positioned to achieve unicorn status.
Forbes partnered with TrueBridge Capital Partners for the 11th consecutive year to identify the next generation of billion-dollar companies. To qualify for the prestigious list, startups must be venture-backed, U.S.-based, and currently valued at less than $1 billion while demonstrating exceptional growth potential.
"We're honored to be recognized by Forbes alongside such an impressive cohort of innovative companies," said Amar Hanspal, CEO and Co-founder of Motif. "This recognition validates our mission to revolutionize how architects design and collaborate, bringing AI-powered intelligence to the AEC industry."
Transforming Architectural Design with AI
Motif’s platform empowers the entire building team—architects, engineers, contractors, and owners—to collaborate on complex designs in real time. Beyond enabling real-time collaboration, Motif also streamlines one of the most time-consuming parts of the design process: visualization. Its AI rendering feature allows architects to generate high-quality renderings in a variety of styles within seconds—transforming a task that once required days of work, specialized roles, and significant expense. Unlike generic AI tools, Motif’s visualization is purpose-built for architecture, understanding the nuances of design intent, materials, and spatial relationships.
"People are designing intelligent buildings. We want to build an intelligence system that assists them," Hanspal explained to Forbes. The platform functions like Figma for architects, providing intuitive collaboration tools specifically tailored for architectural design workflows.
Before founding Motif, Hanspal brought over 15 years of industry expertise from his executive role at Autodesk, the construction industry’s ~$50 billion market-cap software incumbent, positioning him with a deep understanding of the market’s needs and opportunities.
Joining Elite Company
Forbes' track record for identifying future unicorns is exceptional. Of the 250 companies featured over the past decade, 140 (56%) have achieved billion-dollar valuations, including notable successes like DoorDash, Figma, and Anduril. An additional 42 companies were acquired, while only 2% have shut down – demonstrating the list's remarkable predictive accuracy.
This year's list is dominated by artificial intelligence applications, with 20 of the 25 selected companies leveraging AI across diverse sectors including military technology, accounting, and health tech – reflecting the transformative impact of AI across industries.
Strong Financial Foundation
Motif has raised $46 million in venture funding led by prestigious investors CapitalG and Redpoint, providing the company with substantial resources to accelerate product development and market expansion.
The two-year-old company is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for AI-powered design tools as the construction industry increasingly adopts digital transformation technologies.
About Motif
Founded by CEO Amar Hanspal and CTO Brian Mathews, Motif is revolutionizing building design with AI-powered collaboration tools. The platform enables architects to design intelligent buildings through real-time collaboration and AI-assisted 3D layout generation. Motif is backed by leading investors including CapitalG and Redpoint. For more information, visit motif.io
