SnapMagic turns text prompts into full circuit schematics; rival Flux has raised $37 million for the same job
SnapMagic, the Y Combinator-backed company whose parts library sits inside distributor catalogs and PCB tools, is quietly generating whole circuit schematics from text, with no press release and a $37 million-funded rival already in the market.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
A text prompt in, a schematic out
SnapMagic Design is live at design.snapmagic.com, and it asks for a description, not a degree in board layout. Type a request for a 5V buck converter or a DS3231 real-time clock and the site says it returns a production-ready schematic, built from more than 10 million proprietary CAD models, with automatic checks for missing decoupling capacitors, invalid connections and incompatible parts, exportable to Altium, KiCad, Eagle, Autodesk−2.89% — Autodesk, down 2.89 percent today Fusion 360 and other ECAD tools 1. The company issued no press release, and a search this week finds no coverage of the tool.
The job already has a price tag
Venture capital priced this problem in February. Flux, officially Defy Gravity Inc., disclosed $37 million across two rounds on February 27, 2026, roughly two-thirds from a Series B led by 8VC plus a $10 million seed backed by Outsiders Fund and Bain Capital Ventures, for a platform that designs printed circuit boards from prompts 2.
The paid seats belong to incumbents: Renesas+3.63% — Renesas, up 3.63 percent today of Japan paid about $5.9 billion for Altium in 2024 and built its Renesas 365 platform on it 3. SnapMagic is private and discloses no funding total; its job posting names Y Combinator among backers 4. The YC directory lists it as a Summer 2015 company, 23 people, run by founder and chief executive Natasha Baker 5.
The library under everyone's tools moved upstairs
SnapMagic, formerly SnapEDA, rebranded and debuted an AI copilot in October 2023 that suggested bypass capacitors 56. Drafting the entire schematic is a different business 1. The wedge is distribution: Future Electronics, the Montreal distributor with 159 offices across 44 countries, embedded 10 million-plus SnapMagic CAD assets in its online catalog on March 3, 2026 7.
ExpressPCB Plus 3.4, a free update dated October 19, 2026, from ASC Sunstone Circuits, restored SnapMagic part downloads 8. On October 9 the company posted seven openings, including a Software Engineer, Electronics Design to own the AI-assisted design tool 4. Its own engineer count has crept from 1.5 million in March to 2 million-plus today 17.
A funded rival, unaudited claims, one front door
The bear case writes itself: Flux has the disclosed money and the same prompt-to-board pitch 2, and every SnapMagic number above is the company's own, unaudited 147. It does not settle the question.
| Flux (Defy Gravity Inc.) | SnapMagic | |
|---|---|---|
| Disclosed funding | $37 million across two rounds, February 2026 | None disclosed |
| Named backers | 8VC led the Series B; Outsiders Fund and Bain Capital Ventures backed the seed | Y Combinator (Summer 2015) |
| What it sells | A platform that designs printed circuit boards from prompts | A parts library of 10 million-plus CAD models, plus an AI copilot that can draft whole schematics |
| Route to engineers | Its own design tool | Embedded in Future Electronics' catalog and ExpressPCB Plus; exports to Altium, KiCad, Eagle and Autodesk Fusion 360 |
| People | Not disclosed | 23 people, run by founder and chief executive Natasha Baker |
Flux sells a design tool, while SnapMagic's parts data sits under the distributors and ECAD tools engineers already use, and its copilot can push a finished bill of materials to distributor checkout in one click 6. Watch the tool's pricing page, whether anyone independently tests the schematics, and who answers first, Flux or Renesas. Whoever drafts the first schematic decides where every part on the board gets bought.
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