Banani AI Makes Product Prototyping as Easy as Writing a Prompt

Banani AI Is Building the Canva of Product Design — and It Starts with a Prompt

Designing user interfaces is often slow and fragmented. Teams juggle multiple tools, face constant back-and-forth, and lack automation, especially in small businesses and early-stage startups. Banani AI, a startup founded in Ukraine and based in Berlin, is tackling this problem with an AI copilot focused specifically on UI design.

By converting simple text inputs into functional UI designs, Banani AI streamlines workflows for product teams, adapting to unique design systems, style preferences, and even users’ tone and references. This reduces friction, making prototyping faster and more accessible.

A Founder with Design and Product Experience

Co-founder Vlad Solomakha started designing as a teenager in Kyiv, building websites and mobile games. His early passion led him to Preply, a top Ukrainian product company, where he contributed heavily to design and later product management, including launching Preply’s first mobile app.

Vlad’s interest in AI’s potential to transform product design—covering user flows and insight gathering—led him to partner with product engineer Vova Parkhomchuk to create Banani AI.

Streamlining Prototyping for Early-Stage Teams

Banani AI targets small to medium companies and solo founders who often lack dedicated designers or product managers. Many use tools like Webflow or Bubble but find them slow or requiring coding skills for prototyping. Banani removes those bottlenecks by enabling quick, code-free prototype creation.

Users can start with a simple idea, and Banani generates a prototype. It also works without text prompts, as Vlad explains: “Prompt engineering is a real barrier for many people. So we’ve designed it so you can just click on elements and we’ll predict the next step in the user flow automatically.”

The AI runs quietly in the background, understanding product priorities and user needs, suggesting design ideas directly inside tools like Slack. This approach cuts time spent on prompt writing and accelerates iteration.

Real-World Use Cases

• Redesigning onboarding flows
• Prototyping new product ideas
• Building SaaS applications

For example, a mid-sized company building a custom CRM saved weeks of back-and-forth by using Banani to prototype a complex flow without involving a designer. Early-stage founders also use Banani to quickly visualize onboarding experiences and core screens for mobile apps.

Balancing AI with Human Expertise

While some designers may be hesitant about AI tools, Banani is mostly seen as a partner for structural tasks and rapid iterations. Originally built with designers in mind, the product gained stronger traction with non-designers, prompting adjustments.

Designers remain essential for advocating users and turning research insights into effective experiences. Banani’s role is to transform workflows, not replace creative professionals.

Looking Ahead: Blurring Roles and Democratizing Design Input

Vlad predicts that in 5 to 10 years, the lines between product managers and designers will blur, with AI handling parts of both roles. Banani’s AI helps avoid duplication and inconsistencies by spotting patterns and linking user flows intelligently.

The company is developing permission systems to allow broad input and ideation while keeping approvals centralized with PMs or designers. The goal is to democratize product design without sacrificing control.

Current Status and Future Plans

Banani AI is currently in public alpha with over 14,000 monthly active users and nearly 350,000 designs generated since its October launch. It raised €850,000 in a pre-seed round led by Specialist.vc and Inovo.vc, supported by angels including the first designer at WhatsApp and former Canva employees.

The startup was also among 38 Ukrainian companies funded by the EU’s Seeds of Bravery consortium, which supports Ukrainian tech ventures.

Banani’s ambition is to become the central hub for product design teams. Beyond early-stage prototyping, it plans to integrate user insights, generate optimized flows, and eventually build a comprehensive design brain for companies.