London-based notetaking startup Goodnotes mentioned immediately it’s buying South Korean startup Dropthebit, which operates a gathering and video abstract device referred to as Traw. With the acquisition, Goodnotes is trying to transfer past lecture rooms and discover making productiveness instruments for professionals.
As a part of the deal, all three co-founders of Dropthebit will transfer to Goodnotes. Plus, Traw mentioned on its web site that its device is shutting down in February however will enable current prospects to export their information.
Dropthebit, which was based in 2020 and had raised $1 million so far, began out by launching a whiteboard answer in 2022. The device recorded the actions on the whiteboard throughout a lecture or a gathering. Plus, it summarized the assembly right into a doc for later consumption. Final 12 months, Traw dropped the whiteboard performance, targeted on assembly summarization, and added an AI-powered device to summarize and arrange YouTube movies.
Goodnotes founder Steven Chan instructed TechCrunch that Dropthebit was trying to elevate its Collection A funding. And whereas Goodnotes thought of each funding and acquisition, it lastly selected latter.
“Even before we met Dropthebit through a mutual investor connection, we were very impressed by their work. Their multimodality was something we were interested in and saw it as good synergy with Goodnotes,” Chan mentioned.
Goodnotes, which has over 24 million month-to-month lively customers, has targeted on offering a digital notebook-like answer for college kids over time — beginning with an iPad app in 2011. In August 2023, the startup launched Goodnotes 6 with a digital market for planners, and subject-specific revision notes. Plus, it launched paid education modules for college kids together with SAT Math follow programs and English and Chinese language programs for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Training Examination (HKDSE).
With its newest acquisition, Goodnotes goals to maneuver into the productiveness sector catering to professionals. Chan mentioned Traw’s function comparable to analyzing movies and placing them into an Excel sheet could possibly be helpful for skilled segments comparable to buyers and market researchers as the corporate appears to maneuver past the schooling sector.
“We already have an audio recording in Goodnotes, but with Traw’s integration, we will look towards transcription business and later we’ll also integrate support YouTube or (a company’s) internal videos. Separately, we are also building LLM (Large Language Model)–based features so users can ask questions about the notes or meetings,” Chan mentioned.
Goodnotes mentioned it plans to be a “paperless digital notebook” for professionals by attempting to assist them get extra insights from conferences and paperwork. At the moment, Goodnotes is extra targeted on stylus-based handwritten notes. The startup mentioned it’s already enhancing its typing expertise throughout the board to make it appropriate for various types of notetaking.
Aside from buying Dropthebit, in September 2023, the note-taking firm invested $1.9 million in Korea-based digital stationary startup WeBudding. Nevertheless, Goodnotes, which bought a $6 million seed funding from Race Capital in 2020, just isn’t trying to elevate one other spherical.
“I feel like we are very cost-efficient. So for now, we don’t have any fundraising plans. We like the flexibility of focusing on the user experience and building the product. So we plan to keep it that way in the foreseeable future,” Chan mentioned.
Alfred S. Chuang, the overall companion at Race Capital, mentioned he’s enthusiastic about Goodnotes’ transfer into the productiveness area.
“I am excited about this acquisition for Goodnotes. The Traw team is super talented with some great AI/engineering chops. They will build AI-powered audio recording and screen recording capabilities in Goodnotes,” Chuang instructed TechCrunch over electronic mail.
“Goodnotes’ expansion into new use cases that integrate Goodnotes into different enterprise workflows makes sense to me. Their challenge is that they will have to continue their growth without sacrificing user experience.”
