Notion was founded in 2013 by Ivan Zhao and Simon Last in San Francisco. The company nearly ran out of money and relocated to Kyoto, Japan, for a while to reduce costs during development. That period of focused work paid off — when Notion relaunched in 2018, it struck a chord with users who wanted a single tool for notes, documents, wikis, and databases.
The product’s flexibility is its defining feature. Notion’s block-based editor lets you combine text, tables, kanban boards, calendars, galleries, and embedded content on a single page. Teams use it as a wiki, project tracker, CRM, meeting notes tool, and more — often replacing several specialized apps in the process.
Notion raised $275 million in a Series C round in 2021 at a $10 billion valuation. The company has over 30 million users, including teams at companies like Nike, Pixar, Toyota, and thousands of startups. It’s become particularly popular with startups and creative teams who appreciate the visual flexibility.
Recent additions include Notion AI (an AI assistant that can write, summarize, and translate within documents), Notion Calendar (after acquiring Cron), Notion Sites (for publishing web pages), and significant improvements to databases and automations. The template ecosystem is thriving, with thousands of community-created templates for everything from personal journals to company operating systems. Notion has essentially created a new category — the customizable workspace — and remains its most popular example.
