Granola AI Note-Taking App Secures $43M Funding, Adds Collaboration Tools
▼ Summary
– Granola, an AI-powered note-taking tool, has seen rapid growth since its launch, driven by word of mouth among VCs and founders and expanded use beyond meeting notes to personal notes.
– The startup raised $43 million in a Series B funding round led by NFDG, valuing the company at $250 million, with participation from existing investors and notable angels.
– Granola is introducing collaboration features, allowing users to share notes and transcripts with teammates and leverage AI insights from a broader pool of shared information.
– The tool differentiates itself by offering personal control and editing capabilities, positioning itself as a workspace beyond just meeting transcription.
– Granola’s expansion into collaboration aligns with a broader trend of AI note-taking tools integrating with other platforms to become knowledge hubs, while facing competition from productivity suites adding similar features.
Granola, the AI-powered note-taking platform, has secured $43 million in Series B funding, propelling its valuation to $250 million. The investment, led by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross’s NFDG Ventures, underscores the growing demand for intelligent productivity tools that blend automation with user control. Existing backers Lightspeed and Spark doubled down, joined by high-profile angels like Shopify’s Tobi Lutke and Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch.
What started as a meeting transcription tool has evolved into a multipurpose workspace, with users relying on Granola for personal notes, task management, and knowledge organization. Co-founder Chris Pedragel notes that early adopters—particularly in tech circles—now treat the app as their central information hub. “People keep Granola running throughout the day,” he explains. “It’s where they capture ideas, revisit discussions, and let the AI uncover connections.”
The fresh capital will fuel collaboration features, marking Granola’s shift toward team-based workflows. Users can now share transcripts, create custom folders for projects like sales or hiring, and even invite non-users to interact with AI-generated summaries. While competitors like Otter and Fireflies offer similar sharing capabilities, Pedragel emphasizes Granola’s emphasis on personalization: “This isn’t just about recording meetings—it’s a dynamic workspace where you refine notes, ask follow-up questions, and build on insights over time.”
Recent updates already allow querying the AI about past meetings. The next phase extends this to folder-specific searches, helping teams mine insights from aggregated data. Lightspeed’s Mike Mignano highlights Granola’s unique balance of automation and control as a differentiator: “By layering context across meetings and enabling sharing, they’re creating network effects that compound value.”
The move aligns with a broader trend: AI note-taking apps are expanding beyond transcription to become knowledge repositories, while productivity suites like Notion add competing features. Granola’s challenge? Staying ahead as the space grows crowded—but with 10% weekly user growth and a design that prioritizes flexibility, the startup seems poised to scale.
(Source: TechCrunch)
