Granola raised $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation: Sam Stephenson, Co-founder

Granola has just raised a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation, becoming one of Europe’s newest AI unicorns, after spreading from VCs and founders into companies almost entirely through word of mouth.Sam Stephenson, Co-founder of Granola, says that growth has been driven by word of mouth more than any other channel, with early adoption coming from people who spend their days in meetings, before the product expands inside companies and turns into broader usage across teams.The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkSponsors:SurrealDB: The multi-model database for AI agents. Check them out here: https://surrealdb.com/Omni: The AI analytics platform trusted by fast-growing companies like Perplexity, Synthesia, and dbt Labs. Check them out here: https://omni.co/Venture Comet: The platform that gives startups and scale-ups real-time equity tracking, daily business insights and automated management information. Check them out here: https://venturecomet.com/Timestamps:0:00 - Introduction and Granola’s Series C announcement0:40 - $125M round at $1.5B valuation and becoming an AI unicorn1:46 - Why Granola raised quickly after its Series B3:17 - Where Granola’s growth is coming from4:44 - Word of mouth as the dominant growth channel6:18 - From individual users to enterprise adoption7:00 - The shift from single-user tool to team workspace11:37 - Why the team prioritises intuition over analytics14:04 - How the new capital will be deployed15:10 - Opening a San Francisco office and go-to-market expansion