Airtable — Startup Profile
The AI-native app platform to build powerful workflows
HQ: San Francisco, CA, United States | Founded: 2013 | Employees: 936-947 | Stage: Late Stage Private — Pending Acquisition | Website: https://airtable.com
About
Airtable was founded in 2013 by Howie Liu (CEO), Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas in San Francisco (1 Front St) to reinvent the spreadsheet as a relational database for the no-code era. Its core primitive — the Base (a collection of Tables with rich field types, linked records, Interfaces for UI, and Automations for workflow) — let business users build custom apps without code. That wedge drove adoption across 500,000+ organizations, including 80% of the Fortune 100, and scale to ~$480M ARR by June 2026 (est) with 90% gross margins and 170% net dollar retention at its high-growth peak. The company raised $1.4B across Seed through Series F, peaking at an $11.7B valuation in December 2021 with a $735M round led by XN.
After a period of repricing — secondaries in January 2026 implied ~$4B — Airtable executed an AI-native refounding in 2025 under Liu, repositioning from no-code work management to an AI app platform. The 2025-2026 stack adds Airtable AI (Omni search/assistant, Field Agents that act inside tables, and Superagent that builds apps from prompts), Connected Apps for live sync with external data, HyperDB for 100M-row scale with two-way Snowflake/Databricks connectors, and an MCP Server that exposes any base as a Model Context Protocol endpoint. Pending acquisition by Bending Spoons (announced Aug 4, 2026; $1.285B enterprise value, $2.25B equity value) is expected to accelerate its profitability and European scale-up playbook, competing head-on with Notion, Monday.com, Smartsheet, Asana, and Coda.
The Take
Airtable is the $11.7B no-code leader now refounding as an AI-native app platform. After defining the spreadsheet-database hybrid and scaling to ~$480M ARR across 500K organizations (80% of Fortune 100) with 90% gross margins, the company is betting its next act on Airtable AI (Omni, Field Agents, Superagent), HyperDB at 100M-row scale, and an MCP Server that turns every base into an AI-interoperable system of record. Repriced to ~$4B on secondary in Jan 2026, Airtable's pending $1.285B enterprise / $2.25B equity acquisition by Bending Spoons (Aug 4, 2026) will test whether its profitability push and AI refounding can reignite growth against Notion, Monday, Smartsheet, and Asana.
Key Metrics
- Latest Valuation: $11.7B (Series F Dec 2021); ~$4B secondary (Jan 2026); $1.285B EV pending acquisition (Aug 2026)
- Last Primary Round: $735M Series F (Dec 2021, XN-led)
- Total Funding: $1.4B
- ARR: ~$480M (June 2026 est); ~$500M (2025 est)
- Headcount: 936-947
- Customers: 500K organizations, 80% of Fortune 100
- Gross Margin / NDR: 90% gross margin; 170% NDR (peak)
- Founded: 2013
Funding Rounds
- Round: $3M (2015-02-01) — Caffeinated Capital, Freestyle Capital, CRV
- Round: $7.6M (2015-08-01) — Benchmark
- Round: $52M (2018-03-15) — Benchmark, Thrive Capital
- Round: $100M (2018-11-15) — Benchmark, Thrive Capital
- Round: $185M (2020-09-14) — Thrive Capital
- Round: $270M (2021-03-15) — Greenoaks, Thrive Capital, Benchmark
- Round: $735M (2021-12-13) — XN
- Round: $1.285B EV / $2.25B Equity (2026-08-04) — Bending Spoons (Acquirer)
Key People
- Howie Liu
- Andrew Ofstad
- Emmett Nicholas
Key Competitors
- Notion —
- Monday.com —
- Smartsheet —
- Asana —
- Coda —
- Retool / Internal.io / Bubble —
Timeline Highlights
- 2026-08-04: Pending acquisition by Bending Spoons announced
- 2026-06-01: MCP Server and AI platform GA
- 2026-01-01: Secondary repricing to ~$4B
- 2025-11-01: HyperDB launched (100M rows + Snowflake/Databricks connectors)
- 2025-06-15: AI-Native Refounding announced
- 2021-12-13: Series F: $735M at $11.7B led by XN
- 2021-03-15: Series E: $270M at $5.77B
- 2020-09-14: Series D: $185M at $2.585B
- 2018-11-15: Series C: $100M at $1.1B — Unicorn
- 2018-03-15: Series B: $52M at $850M
- 2015-08-01: Series A: $7.6M led by Benchmark
- 2015-02-01: Seed: $3M
- 2013-01-01: Airtable founded
Recent News
- Bending Spoons to Acquire Airtable for $1.285B Enterprise Value (2026-08-04)
- Airtable Raises $735M Series F at $11.7B Valuation Led by XN (2021-12-13)
- Airtable Unveils AI-Native Platform: Omni, Field Agents, Superagent (2025-06-15)
- Airtable Launches HyperDB: 100M Rows with Snowflake and Databricks Sync (2025-11-01)
- Airtable Ships MCP Server, Turns Every Base into an Agent Endpoint (2026-06-01)
- Airtable Secondary Implies ~$4B Valuation, Down From $11.7B Peak (2026-01-15)
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