LynxCraft – The Winner of How To Web’s 2025 Spotlight Competition

• Slovenian LynxCraft won How To Web’s 2025 Spotlight competition, beating 100+ CEE startups
• The platform streamlines homebuilding with AI-driven design, budgeting, supplier selection, and project management
• The reward of EUR 180K investment supports LynxCraft’s UX, automation, marketing, and ecosystem expansion across CEE markets
• The team’s long-term vision includes additional features, such as Circular Design and Certification Engine and Lynx Marketplace

On October 1–2nd, 2025, Bucharest’ Face Convention Center welcomed over 3,500 founders, investors, executives, and tech professionals for this year’s edition of the How to Web Conference. The event brought together representatives from 550 startups and featured more than 100 renowned speakers. As usual, the Spotlight Competition became a major highlight of the Conference, showcasing some of the most promising startups in Central and Eastern Europe.

LynxCraft’ Winning Formula Takes the Spotlight

From over 100 contenders, LynxCraft, the Slovenian cloud platform facilitating the home-building process for private investors, emerged as the winner. The platform integrates design, budgeting, supplier selection, and project management into one seamless digital workflow, helping investors efficiently manage their building projects from start to finish.

LynxCraft’s innovative approach and strong market potential earned it the top prize: a EUR 180K syndicated investment proposal from GapMinder VC and V7 Capital, along with a EUR 15K work package at the European Startup Embassy in the Bay Area to support the startup’s expansion and partnerships in the United States.

‘In my view, two key factors defined LynxCraft’s success in this year’s Spotlight competition. Firstly, an innovative approach that automates design, documentation, and supply chain management in the homebuilding process, presenting efficiency, sustainability and scalability in construction. Secondly, a powerful and confident pitch from Marko that clearly highlighted the solution’s potential. Thus, the blend of an innovative product and Marko’s strong vision ensured the team the fast-track to winning our Spotlight competition,’ How To Web’s startup relationship manager Carmelina Lungu comments.

Founders Turning Frustration into Meaningful Innovation

Lynxcraft was started in 2023 by the founding team with combined decades-long experience across construction engineering, technology, and business upscaling. Marko Hozjan (CEO) comes from a background of real estate development and technology companies, from startups to large-scale operations, including TAIA Translations and multiple ventures in marketing and real estate. Iztok Šušteršič (CTO), in turn, holds a PhD degree in structural engineering. He is a former university professor and one of Europe’s leading experts in timber construction and seismic design.

‘The inspiration came from our shared frustration with the way construction still operates—fragmented, manual, and opaque. We both had experienced, in our own industries, how digitization can transform chaos into clarity. We realized that private homebuilding—one of the most emotionally and financially significant investments people make—deserved the same level of intelligence and automation that finance, logistics, or manufacturing already enjoy,’ Mr Hozjan recalls.

For the co-founders, the ‘Lynx’ in the name Lynx represents vision and precision—qualities associated with the ability to see clearly even in challenging conditions, while ‘Craft’ signifies skill and mastery in the art of building. Joinly, ‘LynxCraft’ embodies the concept of intelligent craftsmanship, combining data and technology to bring greater clarity, efficiency, and control to one of the most complex and important human undertakings: building a home.

A Digital Brain for Homebuilding

Essentially, LynxCraft is like a digital brain for homebuilding. This online platform helps private real estate investors—people who are building their own homes—plan, design, and manage the whole process in one place. Users prompt their wishes, and the platform instantly generates code-compliant home designs and calculates costs. It then connects the user with trusted and verified architects, construction workers, and suppliers. Powered by AI, it automates what used to take months of coordination between architects, engineers, and contractors. It saves people from stress, delays, and overspending, for the first time granting homeowners a previously impossible level of control, transparency, and confidence in their projects.

‘Construction has always been fragmented—every project involves different people, tools, and data. Meanwhile, digital maturity in this sector lagged far behind others. But today, three forces converged: a global housing crisis, widespread digitization, and the rise of AI capable of connecting complex systems. Only now has it become technically possible—and socially expected—to turn homebuilding into a data-driven, transparent process end-to-end.,’ the CEO tells ITKeyMedia.

Building for Sustainability and Scale

The EUR 180K investment is meant to serve as a bridge to LynxCraft’s next funding round, extending the startup’s runway until mid-2026. Specifically, it will be used to:

• Optimize user experience and conversion rates within the platform;
• Accelerate development of execution automation modules;
• Strengthen marketing in key markets in CEE to reach 100+ paying customers;
• Expand LynxCraft’s ecosystem of verified builders and suppliers.

This round positions the startup to enter the Seed stage from a point of proven traction and strong unit economics.

Overall, according to Mr Hozjan, LynxCraft’s roadmap goes beyond design and supplier matching. What the team aims to build is a Circular Design and Certification Engine to score and optimize houses for sustainability and carbon performance by design. They are also preparing to roll out the Lynx Marketplace where investors could order architectural and building services, including full turnkey solutions directly from trusted partners. The long-term vision is to make small-scale construction as scalable, predictable, and sustainable as manufacturing.

Returning to How To Web Conference and the runners-up of 2025’s Spotlight competition, Mr Hozjan points out the incredible lineup.

‘I was particularly impressed by startups focusing on AI-driven solutions —they align perfectly with our vision of sustainable, data-integrated building. We’re already exploring potential integrations with a few of them as we believe the future of construction will be collaborative, not competitive,’ the winning CEO states.

How To Web’s Spotlight competition continues to play a crucial role in highlighting and accelerating the most promising startups in the CEE region, providing them with exposure, investment opportunities, and strategic support. LynxCraft’s innovative platform won this year’s competition by exemplifying the transformative potential of technology and AI in traditionally fragmented industries like homebuilding and setting new standards for efficiency, transparency, and sustainability. Together, the competition and LynxCraft’s offering illustrate how innovation, mentorship, and investment can converge to drive meaningful change in complex sectors.