Notion

Notion is a software platform that provides an all-in-one workspace for individuals and organisations. It allows users to write documents, take notes, create databases, manage projects, and organise knowledge in one central place. The company was founded in 2013 by Ivan Zhao and Simon Last, with early contributions from Chris Prucha, Jessica Lam, and others. Notion is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and works in a hybrid format, where employees are generally expected to be in the office for part of the week.
 

The purpose of Notion is to reduce the need to use many separate tools for daily work. Instead of having different applications for documents, task lists, wikis, and collaboration, Notion allows all these activities to happen in one system. Pages in Notion can contain text, images, tables, checklists, and many other types of content. These pages can also be turned into databases that can be filtered, sorted, and viewed in various formats such as table view, board view, or calendar view.
 

Notion also includes built-in artificial intelligence features under “Notion AI”. These features assist with writing, summarising text, generating ideas, translating content, taking meeting notes, and searching across company information. Notion AI can also connect with other tools through integrations, which allows users to search for information from various applications in one place. Enterprise search and research modes are included in higher-tier plans and help organisations find knowledge quickly and create structured reports.
 

The company serves both individual users and business teams. It offers free personal plans as well as paid plans for teams and enterprises. Notion has raised multiple funding rounds and has been valued at around US$10 billion. Many well-known organisations, including OpenAI, Figma, Ramp, and Toyota, use Notion to support internal collaboration, documentation, and project work.

Notion began in 2013 when Ivan Zhao and Simon Last started developing a tool that would allow people to build and organise their own software workflows without needing engineering skills. The early idea was influenced by research from pioneers like Doug Engelbart and Ted Nelson, who explored how computers could support thinking and creativity rather than only data storage and typing tasks. The first versions of Notion focused on providing building blocks that users could arrange to create tools suited to their own work.
 

In its early years, the company faced challenges in funding and product development. Around 2015, the team moved to Kyoto, Japan, to reduce costs and rebuild the product from scratch. During this period, the core idea of a flexible workspace using pages and content blocks became clearer. 

In 2018, the company re-introduced its product with a stable release known as Notion 2.0. This version allowed users to create documents, notes, wikis and simple databases within one system. The release gained attention in design and technology communities, leading to rapid growth driven mainly by user recommendations rather than large marketing campaigns.

As usage expanded, Notion introduced shared workspaces, permissions, templates and collaboration features, which allowed teams to use Notion for managing projects, tasks and internal knowledge. 

In 2020, the company raised US$50 million, valuing it at approximately US$2 billion, which supported further product scaling and hiring. In 2021, Notion secured US$275 million in additional funding, bringing its valuation to around US$10 billion and enabling expansion into new markets.
 

In 2022, Notion acquired the calendar application Cron to integrate scheduling and planning features.

In 2023, it acquired Skiff, a privacy-focused collaboration platform. The company also launched Notion AI, offering writing assistance, summarisation, translation and later enterprise search and research tools. These features were designed to reduce the need for separate AI chatbots, note-taking tools and search platforms.
 

As of the present, Notion continues to develop its workspace platform with a focus on AI-supported productivity, enterprise knowledge search, workflow automation and custom agents. The company serves individuals, small teams and large organisations globally, with ongoing product updates and expanded integration capabilities.

Notion’s vision is to provide a workspace where people can shape the software tools they use, rather than being limited by fixed applications. The aim is to make everyday digital work simpler, more connected, and easier to organise. Notion believes that individuals and teams should be able to build their own workflows without needing technical skills. By combining documents, tasks, knowledge, and data in one system, Notion seeks to reduce the need for multiple separate tools. The company continues to focus on flexibility, collaboration, and the ability for users to design systems that match the way they think and work.

Notion has received recognition in the technology and business sectors for its approach to collaboration and workspace organisation. It has been included in lists of fast-growing software companies and has been recognised for strong product design and user adoption in global markets. Notion has also been highlighted by industry review platforms such as G2 for its performance in knowledge management and as a preferred workspace tool for teams. Coverage in media outlets including The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, TechCrunch, and The Verge has further acknowledged Notion’s role in changing how organisations organise projects, share information, and manage team workflows.

Notion provides an all-in-one digital workspace where individuals and organisations can write, plan, organise knowledge, manage tasks, and collaborate. The platform is based on a flexible system of “blocks.” A block can be a paragraph of text, a heading, an image, a checklist, a table, or many other types of content. By arranging and combining blocks, users can build pages that function as documents, knowledge hubs, dashboards, or structured databases. This flexibility allows people to design workspaces that match their own needs rather than fitting into rigid software structures.
 

One of Notion’s core features is document and note creation. Users can write long-form documents, project specifications, meeting notes, research summaries, or personal journals. Pages can be linked to each other to form a structured knowledge system, similar to a wiki. Version history and collaboration tools allow teams to comment, suggest edits, and work together in real time.
 

Another major product area is databases. Any page in Notion can be turned into a database with custom properties such as text fields, dates, tags, status indicators, or assigned team members. Databases can be viewed in multiple formats, including table, board (Kanban), calendar, timeline, and gallery. This allows teams to manage project pipelines, content calendars, design assets, hiring pipelines, customer relations, or inventory, all within the same workspace. Databases can also be linked to each other, enabling more complex relationships between information.
 

Notion also offers a project and task management system. Individuals and teams can create task lists, assign responsibilities, set due dates, track progress, and view workloads. This eliminates the need for separate project management tools and keeps planning closely tied to written documentation and discussion.
 

A key development in recent years is Notion AI. Notion AI assists with writing, editing, summarising, translating, brainstorming, and organising information. It can generate first drafts, rewrite text in different tones, summarise long documents, extract action items from meeting notes, and answer questions based on workspace content. Enterprise search and research mode use AI to search across internal documents and connected external tools, giving users fast access to relevant information. Notion AI is designed to work inside the workspace rather than as a separate application.

For organisations, Notion provides enterprise features such as user provisioning, permissions management, secure data controls, audit logs, private teamspaces, and integration with identity systems like SAML single sign-on. These tools help larger teams manage access and maintain compliance.

Notion also offers integrations with external tools such as Slack, GitHub, Jira, Google Drive, Figma, Zoom, and others. Through these integrations, information from many systems can be linked, synced, and surfaced directly in Notion pages and databases.
 

In addition, Notion offers templates for common workflows, including personal planners, company handbooks, design systems, onboarding manuals, product roadmaps, and sales pipelines. Users can create their own templates and share them publicly.