Granola, an AI-powered meeting notes platform that emphasizes human input over automation, has secured $20 million in Series A funding led by Spark Capital. The round, which came together remarkably quickly in about a week, includes backing from AI Grant, Lightspeed, Betaworks, and Firstminute Capital.
The AI note-taking space is already crowded—from first party solutions from virtual meeting providers like Zoom and Microsoft, to third-party tools like Otter , Fireflies, and Fathom. However, while many competitors focus on fully automated solutions, Granola keeps humans at the center of the note-taking process. During meetings, you jot down what you find important while the app quietly transcribes in the background. After the meeting ends, the AI enhances your notes rather than generating its own summary.
"Writing is thinking, and your tools should support your thinking, not replace it," explains co-founder Sam Stephenson. This philosophy has struck a chord, particularly among tech industry leaders. Since its May launch, Granola has seen weekly active users surge to around 5,000, with 57% of users holding leadership positions at major tech companies including Vercel, Ramp, and Roblox. Perhaps more impressively, half of the users who try Granola continue using it ten weeks later, averaging six meetings per week.
The app's technical approach also differs from competitors. It runs locally on Mac computers, eliminating the need for meeting bots to join calls. After connecting to your calendar, Granola can transcribe audio from Zoom, Google Meet, Slack, Teams, and WebEx meetings. The platform includes customizable templates for different meeting types like sales calls and one-on-ones, and allows users to share notes via text, link, or directly to Slack.
The rapid funding round emerged from organic user growth. "It was a very opportunistic thing," Stephenson notes. "All the investors that we got term sheets from had been using this for a while." While venture capitalists were early adopters, using Granola for pitch meetings, the user base has expanded significantly. The app often spreads through organizations after being introduced by senior leadership.
Looking ahead, Granola plans to use the funding to expand its five-person engineering team with four new hires. The company is developing features for team-wide conversation insights and post-meeting workflow automation. Near-term updates will include CRM integrations, image support, and a feature showing meeting history context. A mobile app is planned for 2025.
The Series A brings Granola's total funding to $24.25 million, following an earlier $4.25 million seed round from investors including Lightspeed's Michael Mignano, Betaworks, Firstminute Capital, and angels Mike Krieger and Soleio Cuervo.