Introducing Canoa version 2.0

Canoa releases an AI recommendation engine and infinite design canvas to help designers create with Canoa.
Written by
Chelsea Flintoft
Published on
September 18, 2024

Today we are announcing the release of Canoa v2.0 into beta: Already the most playful software in an interior designer’s toolbox, version 2.0 brings two new transformative features: an infinite and super-fast canvas for teams to create their designs online and the first public release of their proprietary AI-recommendation engine for furniture and lighting products, ‘Canoa AI’. Combined, these new features empower designers and their teams to move faster and more precisely, helping them every day as they look to design better spaces.

“We started Canoa with the idea to make designing and retrofitting interiors easier and less wasteful,” says Federico Negro, Founder and Chief Executive of the Brooklyn-based startup, launched in late 2019. 

Specifically, Canoa helps designers create data-rich mood boards, furniture layouts, and product schedules all in the browser, assisted by a first-of-its-kind proprietary AI engine. Canoa’s AI provides recommendations generated from hundreds of millions of product combinations. Designers can quickly identify products from an image or search for new ones with prompts like ‘low carbon’’ and ‘in stock’ across millions of records, replacing a workflow that is entirely manual, error-prone, and easily takes weeks today.

Canoa is facilitating the advancement of the design processes by connecting designers to product brands. Designers can easily share their creation and connect with peers, clients, and brands.


“The more designers that use our AI-assisted tools, the more intuitive the tools, and the more effective people can be,” says Josh Emig, Canoa’s Head of Product. Import and export features have also been upgraded so designers can facilitate larger presentations with clients.

“Interior designers make much of their living by breathing new life into existing buildings,” says Negro.  “They create completely new experiences by updating spatial layouts and fit and finish with masterful control of color, texture, and lighting. They work every day to extend the lives of our buildings and our cities, so whatever we could do to help them do more, and do it better, [will] have a real impact.”

San Francisco-based architect and interior designer Anand Sheth, a Canoa user who recently launched a curated collection within the app adds, “Canoa is different. [It] is intuitive and works like the CAD programs we are accustomed to with many perks: custom blocks for furniture pieces, trade pricing immediately available, and an organized catalog with all the information we need at our fingertips. It's also often a clunky transition for designers and clients to bring our unique design intent into the world of reality. Moodboarding with Canoa’s canvas creates a workflow from concept design to specification.” 

Anyone can sign up to try Canoa’s latest version when it launches in beta on Oct. 17, 2023. The company also shares that (in addition to constant improvement with new features in its application) within the coming month they are working to give interior designers their own place to learn, grow, and share online––a curated forum that will foster a greater sense of community for the industry they serve.

Hundreds of designers are already using Canoa. Unleash your creativity and begin to #CreateWithCANOA #IdeateWithCanoa. 

For all media inquiries, please contact Meggie Sullivan at BIGMESS.  [email protected] 

ABOUT CANOA

CANOA was founded at the end of 2019 by Federico Negro and a team of industry veterans who saw an opportunity to reengineer wasteful 20th century processes for design, sourcing, and asset management of furniture in commercial real estate portfolios in order to streamline workflows and help designers drastically reduce waste in their work.

CANOA is the first AI-assisted, collaborative online tool for interior designers to create and share data-rich mood boards, layouts, and product schedules with their teams. 

CANOA’s mission is to make sustainable design more widely accessible through reuse. They are a team of designers, technologists, architects, data scientists, and engineers united by a mission to help designers create vibrant and healthy environments.

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