# Altaf Ganihar

> Altaf Ganihar is the founder and CEO of Snaptrude, a New York-based cloud design platform for architecture, engineering and construction teams. Trained in electronics and communications engineering, with research experience in computer vision, graphics and geometry processing, he traced the idea for Snaptrude to work digitizing the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi. Frustration with slow, manual architectural workflows led him to build prototypes, choose entrepreneurship over a planned academic career, and develop a browser-native BIM platform focused on connected data, interoperability and collaboration.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Snaptrude
- **Organizations:** Snaptrude, India Digital Heritage project, KLE Technological University
- **Nationality:** Indian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communications Engineering, B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology, now KLE Technological University
- **Known for:** Founded and leads Snaptrude, a cloud-native building design and BIM platform., Served as a project lead on the India Digital Heritage effort that digitized Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage site., Authored or co-authored more than ten international publications in computer graphics, geometry and computer vision, according to his public speaker biography.

## Career timeline

- **2012** — Completed a summer internship at IIT Delhi focused on computer vision and computer graphics.
- **2014** — Co-authored research on metric tensors and Christoffel symbols for 3D object categorization, presented through ACM SIGGRAPH.
- **2015** — Completed his engineering degree, received his college's Best Outgoing Student award, and developed Snaptrude for SketchUp as an early floor-plan-to-3D project.
- **2017** — Began leading Snaptrude as founder and CEO and participated in the Brigade Real Estate Accelerator Program.
- **2022** — Received two US patents tied to 3D building model generation and 3D interior-design visualization.
- **2023-01** — Snaptrude announced a $6.6 million seed round co-led by Accel and Foundamental.
- **2023-11** — Snaptrude announced a $14 million Series A led by Foundamental with participation from Accel and Fortius Ventures.
- **2024** — Published a founder letter describing Snaptrude's cloud-first foundation: a browser geometry kernel, a modern data schema and a real-time database stack.
- **2025** — Presented Snaptrude's direction for design authoring and joined BIM 2.0 discussions at NXT BLD.
- **2026** — Presented a live brief-to-LOD-300 workflow and joined AI and BIM 2.0 panels at NXT BLD 2026.

## Achievements

- Founded and leads Snaptrude, a cloud-native building design and BIM platform.
- Served as a project lead on the India Digital Heritage effort that digitized Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- Authored or co-authored more than ten international publications in computer graphics, geometry and computer vision, according to his public speaker biography.
- Named inventor on US patents 11,354,855 and 11,443,079 for 3D building model generation and interior-design visualization systems.
- Received the Best Outgoing Student award from B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology in 2015.
- Led Snaptrude through a $6.6 million seed round in 2023 and a $14 million Series A later that year.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Published essays on institutional knowledge and software-platform proliferation in architecture firms.
- **2026-06** — Presented Snaptrude's brief-to-LOD-300 workflow and took part in AI and BIM 2.0 discussions at NXT BLD 2026.
- **2026-03** — Published Snaptrude's case for AI built into a cloud-native BIM data model rather than added to file-based legacy software.
- **2026-03** — AEC Magazine profiled Snaptrude's focus on AI for conceptual and schematic design.
- **2025-06** — Presented on the future of design authoring and joined a BIM 2.0 panel at NXT BLD 2025.

## Links

- Website: https://snaptrude.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/altaf-ganihar-54512367
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/snaptrude
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@snaptrude
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/snaptrude/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/altaf-ganihar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-10