Notion cofounder and CEO Ivan Zhao<\/p>\n
CODY PICKENS FOR FORBES<\/p>\n
Productivity software startup Notion told its employees Monday that they can sell some of their shares at an $11 billion valuation ahead of a potential initial public offering, people familiar with the matter told Forbes.<\/p>\n
Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC will purchase the shares, and the deal is expected to be for about $300 million worth of shares, the people said.<\/p>\n
The share sale comes after Notion recently passed $600 million in annual recurring revenue, half of which is coming from its artificial intelligence products, and is cash flow positive, the people said. The company is considering multiple rounds of financing in quick succession leading up to an IPO, a current financing trend for later stage startups, like fintech startup Ramp, which closed four financing rounds this year, according to Pitchbook. <\/p>\n
The privately-held company\u2019s last tender offer in 2022<\/a> was at a $10 billion valuation, the same valuation as its series C round in 2021. <\/p>\n Bloomberg earlier reported<\/a> that Notion, which is on the Forbes AI 50, was weighing a tender offer at a $12 billion valuation.<\/p>\n Notion declined to comment.<\/p>\n The 1,000-person company, which counts OpenAI and Cursor among its customers, originally gained popularity among startups as a productivity tool that was powerful and customizable while maintaining a sleek, minimalist interface. Now, 80% of its customers<\/a> are from outside the US.<\/p>\n In recent months, the company has expanded<\/a> to make Notion into an everything app for the office that might one day challenge the dominance of Microsoft and Google, which together control 99% of the $52 billion (2022 sales) productivity suite market, per Gartner. <\/p>\n