The meeting note taking market is a crowded space. In just a few weeks, dictation app Wispr released its own note-taking and scheduling app, and Calendly added similar tools to its stack. Avid meeting recorders like Granola, Read AI, and Fireflies have raised millions of dollars in funding.
Perhaps in response to increased competition, Y Combinator-backed Circleback is introducing a free subscription tier for users to try out its product. With the new plan, users can transcribe an unlimited number of meetings, but can only access history for the past 30 days (Granola added a similar tier a few months ago).
The free plan allows users to record meetings, access mobile and Apple Watch apps, use AI to query transcripts, and integrate the app with Linear and Slack. If customers want all integrations, unlimited meeting history, and full API and MCP access, subscription plans start at $14 per month (billed annually). Before this change, Circleback didn’t have a free tier and plans started at $20.83 per month.
Founded in 2023 by Ali Haghani and Kevin Jasina, Circleback raised $2.5 million in 2024. The company says it has since turned a profit and is recording run-rate revenue of more than $1 million per employee with a team of eight people. This roughly equates to a run rate of approximately $8 million.
Haghani said the company had previously seen a significant drop in users due to limited trial periods, which is why it is introducing a free plan.
“If we just open the doors and allow more people to use the product, we’re giving Circleback to more people. Then we’re very good at making the product great and monetizing those users,” he said.
The company says it does not spend on Google ads or meta ads, and that the free tier will be used for marketing expenses.
Haghani said the company does not see any bottlenecks in its growth trajectory, so although there is interest, the company has no immediate plans to raise capital.
“We are constantly competing for customers with much larger companies, both in terms of number of employees and capital raised, and now it feels like we have an even greater desire to win,” he said.
He pointed out that the moment a startup realizes that its problems can be solved with money, it will be more willing to raise money.
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