--- title: "Synera brings agentic AI to additive manufacturing design and build preparation" url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/synera-brings-agentic-ai-to-additive-manufacturing-design-and-build-preparation/ date: 2026-06-15 modified: 2026-06-14 lang: en author: "Davide Sher" description: "Synera, the Bremen-based engineering software company formerly known as ELISE, has positioned itself as one of the most significant automation players in additive manufacturing. Instead of generating geometry, as generative..." categories: - "AI" - "AM Software" - "DfAM" - "Workflow/MES/MOS" tags: - "future" image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Synera_65a936f8a83bb8432cac4a14_Hero_DfAM-640x435.webp word_count: 841 --- # Synera brings agentic AI to additive manufacturing design and build preparation [Synera, the Bremen-based engineering software company formerly known as ELISE](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/elise/), has positioned itself as one of the most significant automation players in additive manufacturing. Instead of generating geometry, as generative design tools do, it automates the engineering process itself. Founded in 2018 and led by CEO Dr. Moritz Maier, the company developed a low-code platform that captures entire engineering workflows as visual, reusable processes and has since extended it with AI agents that execute those workflows autonomously. In April 2026, the company raised $40 million (€35 million) in a Series B round to scale the platform internationally, bringing its total funding to $58.1 million. ## Real process automation Synera's core product is a visual editor in which engineers assemble workflows from modular nodes, connecting more than 80 CAD, CAE, CAM, and PLM tools into a single automated pipeline. Rather than replacing existing software, the platform orchestrates it: a workflow can pull geometry from a CAD system, run a topology optimization, check the result against DfAM rules, and hand the part off to build preparation software without manual file transfers between tools. The platform runs on-premises and has TISAX Level 2 certification for automotive information security, which the company presents as a condition for industrial adoption because engineering data and intellectual property never leave the customer's infrastructure. A marketplace of partner add-ins extends the built-in nodes with specialized tools, with integration partners including Autodesk, nTop, Siemens, PTC, Hexagon, and [Materialise](https://www.voxelmatters.com/synera-connects-ai-platform-with-materialise-magics-sdk/). AM-specific marketplace modules include Cognitive Additive for manufacturability analysis and fast costing, Dendrise for voxelization, the Additive Design Toolkit for part evaluation, and Hexagon's HxGN Emendate for generative design. For additive manufacturing specifically, the platform automates the tasks that make DfAM labor-intensive at production scale: adapting existing parts for AM, designing serial part variants, generating lattice and triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures, designing conformal cooling channels, and preparing build jobs—including nesting and process parameter definition for SLS and similar technologies. On the design side, it integrates voxel modeling, polynurbs, implicit modeling, and generative design, with workflows primarily focused on SLS and laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The company claims that DfAM workflows running on the platform are up to 10 times faster than manual equivalents, compressing multi-day processes into hours. ![](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Synera_65a937590e095cf53bcc28ea_Image_Integration-of-various-software-tools.jpg)Two partnerships extended this reach in 2025. A collaboration with Materialise, formed in July 2025, brought automated 3D printing build preparation directly into Synera workflows, connecting design output to nesting and job setup. Earlier that year, a partnership with PanOptimization integrated the PanX thermo-mechanical finite element solver into the platform, enabling users to build end-to-end metal AM workflows that predict build outcomes—including part distortion and recoater interference— before printing. ## AI agents working on AM In 2025, Synera layered AI agents onto its workflow engine. Where the workflows themselves are deterministic, the agents act as a digital engineering workforce that can interpret requirements, select and execute the appropriate workflows, and run continuously without supervision. NASA has deployed multiple Synera agents to transform requirements into validated part designs, completing hundreds of design iterations in an hour. Other users include BMW, Airbus, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Volvo Trucks, MAN, Safran, ArianeGroup, EDAG, Voith, and Brose, and the company reported more than 60 enterprise customers across 15 countries, with annual recurring revenue doubling in 2025. Frost & Sullivan recognized the company with its 2025 Global AI Agents for Engineering Transformational Innovation Leadership award. ![](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Synera_65a93759cac5fe82633674b0_Image_Complex-design-adaptation.jpg)Published case studies give a sense of the gains in practice. A BMW radiator cover project compressed a DfAM design cycle from months to days, while a Hyundai project applied automated bionic design to a B-pillar structure. At automotive supplier Brose, the platform was adopted for AM job preparation and design: "What used to take hours now takes minutes," said Jan Sander, Specialist Additive Manufacturing at Brose, adding that the ability to build custom functions and processes opened up work that was previously not possible. The company's pitch addresses a documented gap between AI investment and deployment in manufacturing. Gartner survey data cited by Synera indicates that 86% of manufacturing respondents planned to increase generative AI investment in 2026, yet only 41% of AI prototypes reach production on average. Synera says the gap is because AI tools sit alongside engineering software instead of connecting to it, and it argues that agents must work within the actual toolchain—CAD, simulation, and PLM—to deliver results. ## Series BMW Revaia led the $40 million Series B, which closed in April 2026, with participation from Capgemini through ISAI Cap Venture. All existing Series A investors returned, including UVC Partners—which made a substantial commitment from its growth fund—as well as BMW iVentures, Cherry Ventures, Venture Stars, and Spark Capital. The funding supports expansion across the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with a dedicated team planned in France alongside the company's existing teams in Germany and the US. Synera is targeting aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer electronics, and industrial engineering as it works to make agentic AI a standard part of product development, which will directly affect additive manufacturing, where design and build preparation are still among the least automated stages of the digital workflow.