# Granola

Granola (London AI-notepad startup) is a bot-free notetaker rated 4.7/5 on G2. Profile: $192M raised at a $1.5B valuation, features, pricing, news.

**Category:** AI meeting notes / bot-free notepad  
**Vendor:** Granola (Granola Recipes Ltd.)  
**Founded:** 2023  
**HQ:** London, England, UK (Shoreditch)  
**Website:** https://www.granola.ai/  


## About

Granola is an AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings. It runs as a desktop app that captures audio straight from your device, so no bot joins the call, then blends the rough notes you type with an AI summary after the meeting ends. Founded in March 2023 in London by Chris Pedregal (ex-Google PM who built and sold Socratic and Stack) and Sam Stephenson (a designer turned founder), it raised $192M across four rounds and hit a $1.5B valuation in March 2026. Granola is one of the fastest-rising brands in the AI meeting-notes category and carries a 4.7/5 rating on G2.

## Ratings

| Source | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.7/5 | 33 |

## Funding

$192M across 4 rounds (Series C valuation $1.5B)

| Round | Amount | Date | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $4.25M | May 2023 | Lightspeed (with Betaworks, Firstminute Capital) |
| Series A | $20M | Oct 2024 | Spark Capital (with AI Grant, Lightspeed, Betaworks, Firstminute Capital) |
| Series B | $43M | May 2025 | NFDG (with Lightspeed, Spark; ~$250M valuation) |
| Series C | $125M | Mar 2026 | Index Ventures + Kleiner Perkins (with Lightspeed, Spark, NFDG; $1.5B valuation) |

## Viability

Low risk on funding, normal risk for a fast-scaling startup. Granola raised $192M across four rounds in under three years and reached a $1.5B valuation in March 2026, with a $125M Series C led by Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Repeat founder Chris Pedregal has sold two products to Google, and named enterprise customers include Vanta, Gusto, Asana, Cursor and Mistral AI. The honest caveats: the team is still small (LinkedIn lists 11-50 employees), the product is desktop-first with newer Windows and iPhone support, and it competes with much larger incumbents (Zoom, Microsoft, Otter, Fireflies) plus the well-funded Fathom. The valuation jump from $250M to $1.5B in under a year is steep, so price in the usual fast-growth volatility if you standardize a large team on it.

## Pricing

Granola's free Basic plan is the evaluation tier, not a forever-free workhorse: it limits meeting history and integrations, which is what pushes active users onto Business at $14/user/month for unlimited history and the advanced AI models. Granola sells monthly and does not publish an annual discount, so the per-seat number is the per-seat number. SSO, org-wide auto-deletion and admin controls are gated to Enterprise at $35/user/month.

| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | A free taste; AI notes with limited meeting history and no integrations |
| Business | $14/user/mo | Individuals and small teams; unlimited history, advanced AI, integrations, API and MCP |
| Enterprise | $35/user/mo | Large orgs needing SSO, admin controls, org-wide auto-deletion and priority support |

## What reviewers say

_33 G2 reviews at a 4.7/5 average (29 five-star, 3 four-star, 1 three-star), plus independent reviews; a small but consistent sample_

**Praised:**
- The bot-free model is the most-cited strength: nothing joins the call, so it works on sensitive and external client calls without a visible recording notification
- The hybrid note model (you type rough bullets, AI fills them in) produces summaries that sound like the person who was in the meeting, not a generic AI recap
- Setup is near-zero and Granola auto-detects meetings, so reviewers say it 'gets out of the way and just works'
- Action items, decisions and key points come out clean and structured, and you can chat with the notes to recall details or draft a follow-up

**Complaints:**
- It transcribes device audio but does not record audio or video, so you cannot replay a misheard moment, a gap reviewers flag versus Otter and Fireflies
- Speaker identification gets hit-or-miss once a call has more than a few participants
- Integrations and exports are still maturing; pushing notes into other systems takes more steps than with bot-based competitors
- A few reviewers say support can feel slow or generic on audio-setup and OS-conflict issues, and there is no web version

## Compliance

- **SOC 2:** Yes (Type II, 2025 report via trust center)
- **GDPR:** Yes (UK/EU company; model-training opt-out available)
- **HIPAA:** Not stated
- **SSO:** Yes (Enterprise tier)

## Integrations

- Zoom
- Google Meet
- Microsoft Teams
- Slack
- Notion
- HubSpot
- Attio
- Affinity
- Zapier
- MCP (Claude and other apps)

## FAQs

### Is Granola free?

Granola has a free Basic plan with AI meeting notes but limited meeting history and no integrations. The paid Business plan is $14/user/month and unlocks unlimited history, advanced AI models, and integrations. Granola sells monthly and does not advertise an annual discount.

### Does a bot join the call?

No. This is Granola's headline difference. It runs as a desktop app and captures audio directly from your device, so no recording bot joins the meeting and other participants never see a notification. That makes it a common pick for first calls with external or enterprise prospects where bot presence is a trust issue.

### What platforms does Granola run on?

Granola is a Mac and Windows desktop app, with an iPhone app for in-person and outbound phone calls. There is no web version, which several reviewers note as a limitation. It works across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and other meeting platforms.

### Is Granola secure and SOC 2 compliant?

Yes. Granola publishes a SOC 2 Type II report (2025) through its trust center at trust.granola.ai, offers a model-training opt-out, and gates SSO plus org-wide controls to the Enterprise tier. HIPAA is not stated on its public materials, so confirm directly if you handle protected health data.

### How much funding has Granola raised?

Granola has raised about $192M across four rounds: a $4.25M seed (Lightspeed, 2023), a $20M Series A (Spark, 2024), a $43M Series B (NFDG, 2025), and a $125M Series C led by Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins in March 2026 at a $1.5B valuation.


## Sources

- [G2: Granola reviews](https://www.g2.com/products/granola/reviews): rating 4.7/5, 33 reviews, star distribution, pros/cons themes (read live)
- [Capterra: search for Granola](https://www.capterra.com/search/?query=granola%20ai): no Granola listing found (Capterra = NA)
- [Trustpilot: granola.ai](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/granola.ai): profile exists but 0 reviews, no usable score
- [Granola: pricing](https://www.granola.ai/pricing): Basic $0, Business $14/user/mo, Enterprise $35/user/mo; per-tier features, SSO, model-training opt-out (read live)
- [Granola: Series A blog](https://www.granola.ai/blog/series-a): $20M Series A led by Spark; founders, Shoreditch HQ
- [TechCrunch: Granola raises $125M at $1.5B](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/25/granola-raises-125m-hits-1-5b-valuation-as-it-expands-from-meeting-notetaker-to-enterprise-ai-app/): Series C $125M, Index Ventures + Kleiner Perkins, total raised $192M, enterprise customers
- [Index Ventures: leading Granola's Series C](https://www.indexventures.com/perspectives/granola-investing-in-what-makes-us-human/): Series C lead, founders, London HQ
- [BusinessWire: Granola raises $43M Series B](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250514342646/en/Granola-Launches-AI-Workspace-for-Teams-and-Raises-$43M-Series-B): Series B $43M, AI workspace launch
- [Lightspeed: Granola seed](https://lsvp.com/stories/generative-london-how-to-win-ais-app-layer-with-granola/): $4.25M seed led by Lightspeed, May 2023
- [LinkedIn: Granola company page](https://uk.linkedin.com/company/meetgranola): London HQ, Note-Taking Software, 11-50 employees, 129% employee growth (read live)
- [LinkedIn: Chris Pedregal](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/pedregal): CEO since Mar 2023; ex-Google; founded Socratic and Stack; CTO hire Nikola Otasevic (read live)
- [Granola Trust Center](https://trust.granola.ai): SOC 2 Type II 2025 report, security policies, PII handling (read live)
- [Crunchbase: Granola](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/granola): rounds, investors, total funding