Paper, an AI-native design platform built for the emerging agentic era, has announced the successful completion of a $34 million Series A funding round led by Accel and ICONIQ. The investment will help the company accelerate product development, expand its engineering team, and further advance AI-powered workflows that bring designers and software engineers together on a unified platform.
The funding round also attracted participation from Designer Fund, Michael Grinich (WorkOS), Anton Osika (Lovable), along with engineers and designers from Anthropic and OpenAI, reflecting growing investor confidence in the future of AI-driven design software.
Funding to Accelerate AI-Native Design Innovation
The latest investment comes at a time when artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping software development. While AI coding assistants have dramatically changed engineering workflows, many design tools still rely on workflows created long before AI became central to product development.
Paper aims to bridge that gap by building a platform where human creativity and AI agents work together throughout the product design lifecycle.
Commenting on the milestone, Stephen Haney, Founder and CEO of Paper, said:
“We want to help designers and creatives do deep, meaningful work at a pace that supports their businesses in the agentic era. Helping design teams keep up with agentic workflows is our north star.”
Haney added that modern design teams are expected to deliver products faster than ever while still relying on tools designed for an earlier generation of software development.
Reimagining Design for the Agentic Era
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing how digital products are built. AI coding agents can now generate production-ready software in minutes, but design collaboration often remains disconnected from engineering workflows.
Paper is addressing this challenge by creating a shared environment where designers, developers, and AI agents collaborate using the same language and workflows.
The company’s platform integrates AI directly into the creative process, allowing design teams to iterate faster while maintaining high-quality user experiences.
According to Haney:
“Designers are being asked to move faster than ever, yet they’re still working with tools built for a different time. We believe there is a massive opportunity for a new generation of tools that help designers do their best work while working seamlessly with modern AI engineering workflows using coding agents like Claude Code and Codex.”
HTML and CSS at the Core of the Platform
Unlike traditional design software that relies on proprietary design canvases, Paper renders designs using HTML and CSS.
This architectural decision enables designs to stay closely connected to production-ready code, making collaboration between designers and engineers significantly more efficient.
By eliminating the traditional disconnect between design files and engineering implementation, teams can:
- Reduce design-to-development handoff delays
- Collaborate more effectively with AI coding agents
- Move from concept to production faster
- Maintain consistency between designs and live applications
- Streamline iterative product development
This approach is especially valuable as AI-generated code becomes increasingly common across modern software organizations.
AI Agents Become Part of the Creative Process
Paper is built specifically for an environment where AI is no longer simply assisting with tasks but actively participating throughout product development.
Rather than treating AI as an external tool, the platform integrates intelligent agents directly into the design workflow.
Its AI-native environment enables:
- Collaborative design between humans and AI
- Faster prototyping
- Intelligent design iteration
- Real-time collaboration across design, code, and product teams
- Improved productivity for software organizations embracing AI development
This positions Paper as one of the first design platforms created specifically for the agentic AI era.
Investors See a New Category Emerging
Lead investor Accel believes Paper represents an entirely new generation of design software.
Dan Levine, Partner at Accel, said:
“Paper is defining a new category with a fundamentally new approach to design software. Most design tools were built for a world where humans did all the work. Paper is built for a world where humans and AI create together and is already seeing strong adoption among some of the world’s most influential technology companies.”
Similarly, Mariano Payano, Partner at ICONIQ, highlighted the growing convergence between design and engineering.
He noted:
“The line between design and engineering is blurring, elevating the importance of taste. We believe Paper is the first canvas built for where software is going, and some of the most quality-obsessed teams we know are adopting it through strong organic word of mouth.”
Rapid Growth Since Launch
Paper has experienced significant momentum following the launch of Paper Desktop in early 2026.
Paper Desktop transforms the traditional design canvas into a collaborative workspace where humans and AI agents work together in real time while bridging:
- Design
- Production code
- Product data
- AI workflows
Since launch, the company has reported:
- 25x growth in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
- Recognition on Ramp’s Fastest Growing Companies list for four consecutive months
- Rapid adoption among high-growth technology companies
These milestones highlight increasing demand for AI-native design infrastructure.
Trusted by Leading Technology Companies
Paper has already become the design platform of choice for several fast-growing software companies shaping the future of AI-enabled product development.
Its customer base includes:
- Ramp
- Lovable
- Vercel
- PostHog
- Quartr
- Y Combinator
These organizations use Paper to accelerate product design, shorten development cycles, and improve collaboration between design and engineering teams.
Industry Leaders Endorse Paper’s Vision
Several influential technology leaders have praised Paper’s modern approach to design.
Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, commented:
“AI changes everything, including design tools. Paper was born at the perfect time to leverage intelligence on demand, allowing creative people to influence and channel AI to design the next generation of software.”
Meanwhile, Adam Wathan, creator of Tailwind CSS, emphasized the company’s fresh perspective.
He said:
“A lot has changed since the last wave of design tools. The Paper team is proving you can build something better in 2026 by starting from first principles and challenging long-standing assumptions.”
How the New Funding Will Be Used
The newly secured $34 million Series A investment will enable Paper to:
- Accelerate product innovation
- Expand engineering and product development teams
- Enhance AI-native design workflows
- Improve collaboration between designers and developers
- Strengthen integrations with AI coding agents
- Scale enterprise adoption globally
The company plans to continue building tools that enable design teams to work seamlessly alongside AI throughout the software development process.
Building the Future of Design Software
As AI increasingly automates software engineering, the relationship between designers, developers, and intelligent agents is rapidly evolving.
Paper believes the future belongs to platforms where creativity, engineering, and AI operate within a shared environment instead of disconnected workflows.
By combining professional-grade design capabilities with agent-native collaboration, the company is positioning itself as foundational infrastructure for modern software teams embracing AI-powered development.
With fresh funding, accelerating customer adoption, and strong backing from leading venture firms and AI industry experts, Paper is well positioned to shape how software products are designed and built in the agentic era.
About Paper
Founded by Stephen Haney, Paper is an AI-native design platform built specifically for teams developing software alongside AI coding agents. The platform combines professional-grade design tools with agent-native workflows, enabling designers and engineers to collaborate through a shared language while accelerating product development. Leading technology companies including Ramp, Lovable, Vercel, PostHog, Quartr, and Y Combinator use Paper to design, iterate, and ship software faster.