Startup Bursts Out of Stealth with $9.5 Million Round to “Solve Communications Overload”

Notion AI, a communications intelligence startup, this week launched from stealth with $9.5 million of funding to “solve communications overload once and for all.”

Drive Capital and Accel led the Series A round with participation from Hyde Park Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank.

Notion’s mission to improve communications and the Michigan company says email is the natural place to start. In 2015, people sent and received more than 205 billion emails each day. A quarter of the average worker’s day is spent on email, making it the second most time consuming activity in their jobs2. What’s more, 92% of people become stressed every time they receive an email, Notion says.

Notion’s cloud intelligence analyzes the relationships behind communications and is able to predict what’s important to you. It delivers tailored insights and improves behavior to positively impact relationships.

Notion’s public debut of its cloud intelligence technology is the Notion mobile email app, now available in the App Store for iPhone and Google Play for Android. The app works with existing email services.

Subscribers to Notion also get access to insights about their relationships with the people behind every single email. In this way, Notion uncovers the largest social network you already have, which, until now, has been buried inside your email history.

Soon subscribers can link Notion to Amazon’s personal assistant device, Alexa, for a smart voice-activated experience that lets users talk to their email. Through the integration, Alexa can read the important emails, emails waiting for replies, relationship details and even archive, snooze or send messages, all through voice communication.

“Today’s communication tools offer little in the way of improving the way we communicate or the underlying relationships behind our conversations,” said Guy Suter, cofounder of Notion. “Artificial intelligence will improve how people communicate by focusing our time and encouraging behaviors that build stronger relationships.”

Notion says it prioritizes the highest standards for user security and privacy in its operations and policies.

Notion was founded in 2013 by Suter and technical cofounders Lindsay Snider and Ian Berry. The trio cofounded data backup company BitLeap, which was acquired by Barracuda Networks in 2008.

“Notion is built on cutting-edge AI technology, applied in ways we’ve dreamed of and are only now able to realize,” said Mark Kvamme, partner at Drive Capital. “The Notion team has a vision that extends beyond email. They have goals, and the means and expertise, to use AI to impact the way we all communicate. In this age of social media, texting, and email reliance, Notion wants to put people back at the center of communication.”

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