
Tana, a startup aiming to revolutionize workplace productivity, has emerged from stealth with $25 million in funding and a 160,000+ user waitlist. Built on the lessons learned from Google Wave, Tana leverages AI to create an automated system for list-building, note-taking, application integration, and organization.
Tana’s functionality includes transcribing conversations and voice memos into actionable items, which it then uses to generate lists, spreadsheets, and website updates. Its “Supertag” feature structures unstructured information quickly, and the system learns and improves over time as it gathers more data.
CEO Tarjei Vassbotn describes Tana as a “river of information,” designed to organize and connect user-generated data and action items for both individuals and teams. The platform integrates with approximately 50 different tools, including Zoom, and partners with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Grok for its natural language processing, while also utilizing open-source local models.
Tana’s impressive waitlist of 160,000 users, heavily concentrated in large enterprises, speaks to the strong interest in its potential. Prior to the public launch, 30,000 users tested the closed beta over nine months, and the company boasts a 24,000-member Slack community.
The $25 million in funding was raised in two tranches. The $14 million Series A round, at a $100 million post-money valuation, was led by Tola Capital with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Alliance VC, and firstminute capital. The $11 million seed round included investments from La Famiglia (now part of General Catalyst), Google Maps co-founder Lars Rasmussen, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, Runway founder Siqi Chen, Datadog founder Olivier Pomel, and others.
Several angel investors, like Rasmussen, have a history of building productivity tools. Rasmussen noted that some of Tana’s ideas were initially pitched for Google Wave.
Tana’s founders, including ex-Googlers Tarjei Vassbotn and Grim Iversen (who also worked on Google Wave), along with COO Olav Kriken, recognize the challenges of the productivity space. They believe that AI is the key to unlocking true workplace efficiency.
The company pivoted after the release of GPT-3 to focus on supporting various models, rather than building their own exclusively. This decision, combined with the complexities of building a precise knowledge graph, contributed to the nearly four-year development period before the closed beta launch.
While Tana is currently best suited for tech-savvy professionals, the company envisions it becoming a paradigm shift in how all knowledge workers interact with information. Investors are optimistic about Tana’s potential. Sheila Gulati of Tola Capital, who has extensive experience with productivity companies, calls her experience with Tana “miraculous” and believes the team is committed to the long game of redefining productivity.