Notion Secures $50 Million To Bring Its Valuation To $2 Billion

The workspace productivity platform recently announced that it has raised $50 million in its latest funding round led by Index Ventures. The funding has increased the company’s valuation to $2 million and allowed it to gain the unicorn rank now. Prior to this, the company had only raised $10 million at a valuation of $800 million. The funding came as a surprise to many as Notion executives were had declined investments from major investors in the past. 

Founded in 2016, the company provides an all-in-one online workspace to enterprise customers. It offers highly customizable apps such as note-taking, tasks, wikis, and databases aimed at increasing the productivity. The startup offers its services on a subscription-based model. It considers itself as the competitor of Microsoft. The founders believe that the company’s apps would replace Microsoft office suite. 

Akshay Kothari, CEO of Notion, has earlier stated, “We’ve had opportunities to raise a lot more, but we’ve never felt like if we had more money we could grow faster,” expressing the company’s disinterest in raising new capital. He further added that the operations of the company had never been constrained by money. However, the recent pandemic COVID - 19 has made the executives to reassess their decision. The work from the home situation has led to an increase in the users of their apps. The startup plans to grasp the opportunity and expand its customer base through additional funds. Kothari referred to the new funds as “a signal of stability.”

Index Ventures partner Sarah Cannon revealed, “In times of economic uncertainty you only want to invest in best-in-class and generation-defining companies. In my view, Notion is both of those.” Cannon had been pestering the executives of Notion for the past 18 months to accept the investment. It is notable that Cannon also led the funding round raised by Quill, a potential competitor of Notion. 

Headquartered in San Francisco, Notion has over 40 employees. The startup is backed by investment firms such as Sequoia Capital, A. Capital Ventures, and numerous individual investors, the most notable being Elad Gil, ex-vice president of Twitter.