Tana Raises $25 Million To Solve Productivity Chaos With An AI-powered Knowledge Graph

For decades, productivity software has promised to transform how people work. Despite an infinite stream of to-do applications, note-taking tools, and project management systems, the basic issue persists: information is dispersed, workflows are fractured, and people spend more time managing work than really performing it.

Tana, an AI-powered knowledge graph startup, is the most recent attempt to address this recurring issue. The company has spent nearly four years developing its method and has already raised $25 million in funding, attracting the attention of major investors and a growing network of eager users.

Tana has received funding in two stages. Tola finance led the most recent round, a $14 million Series A at a post-money valuation of $100 million, with support from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Alliance VC, and firstminute finance. The previous $11 million initial round featured investments from La Famiglia (now part of General Catalyst) and key angels such as Google Maps co-founder Lars Rasmussen, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, Runway founder Siqi Chen, and Datadog founder Olivier Pomel.

The people backing Tana are no strangers to the struggle of productivity software. Rasmussen, in particular, was one of the minds behind Google Wave, an ambitious collaboration tool that ultimately failed to take off. He recalls, "Grim actually pitched some of [the Tana] ideas for Google Wave, but we never had time to build them." That history just showshow long this problem has persisted—and how compelling Tana’s approach must be to draw renewed interest from those who have tried and failed in the past.