# Heptabase

**Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/heptabase  
**Vertical:** Infrastructure  
**Subcategory:** IT Operations  
**Tier:** Emerging  
**Website:** heptabase.com  
**Last Updated:** 2026-04-14

## Summary

Visual knowledge management platform with spatial whiteboard for researchers; $1.2M revenue in 2024 with 30K paid users backed by YC competing with Obsidian and Notion for sensemaking.

## Company Overview

Heptabase is a Taipei-based visual knowledge management platform that lets researchers, students, and knowledge workers organize complex information through a spatial whiteboard interface — placing notes as cards on infinite canvases, connecting related ideas visually, and enabling the kind of non-linear thinking that linear note-taking tools like Notion and Obsidian constrain. Founded in 2021 by CEO Alan Chan and backed by Y Combinator, Heptabase raised $2.2 million in funding, reached $1.2 million in revenue in 2024 with 30,000 active paid users, growing with an 8-person team.

Heptabase's core interface is the Whiteboard — a spatial canvas where notes (cards) can be positioned, grouped, and connected to represent the relationships between ideas. Users can also organize cards linearly in a Journal (daily notes), and view all notes in a card library with search. The visual-spatial approach is specifically designed for "sensemaking" tasks — research synthesis, paper writing, course learning, project planning — where understanding connections and structures between ideas matters as much as capturing individual facts.

In 2025, Heptabase competes in the knowledge management and note-taking market with Obsidian (local-first markdown with graph view), Notion (collaborative workspace), Roam Research (bidirectional linking), Miro (whiteboard-first collaboration), and Napkin.ai (AI-powered idea visualization) for the researcher and knowledge worker segment. The "tools for thought" category has attracted significant startup and open-source activity, with many users maintaining complex note systems across multiple tools. Heptabase's differentiation is the tightly integrated whiteboard-as-primary-interface design — not just a graph view overlay on text notes, but spatial thinking as the organizing principle. The 2025 strategy focuses on growing the academic and researcher user base, deepening the AI-assisted connection and synthesis features, and expanding PDF annotation and academic reading workflow integration.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is Heptabase?
Heptabase is a visual note-taking app founded in 2021 that helps researchers and knowledge workers organize complex information using spatial note-taking methods. The company provides a powerful interface for thinking and learning through visual organization, offering an innovative approach to personal knowledge management beyond traditional note-taking apps.

### What products and services does Heptabase offer?
Heptabase offers a visual note-taking application that enables spatial organization of information for learning and knowledge management. The app is designed to help users learn complex topics through visual and spatial note-taking techniques.

### Who is Heptabase designed for?
Heptabase is designed for researchers and knowledge workers who need to visually organize complex information. The tool is particularly suited for users who want to learn complex topics and manage personal knowledge effectively.

### When was Heptabase founded?
Heptabase was founded in 2021 by CEO Alan Chan. The company participated in Y Combinator's W22 batch.

### Where is Heptabase located?
Heptabase is based in Taipei, Taiwan.

### How much funding has Heptabase raised?
Heptabase has raised $2.2 million in total funding, including a $1.7 million seed round in April 2022. The seed round investors included XditeAsia, Qi Ming Tsai, Tseng Chia Ping (T客邦), and Y Combinator.

### What are Heptabase's key achievements and metrics?
Heptabase reached $1.2 million in revenue in 2024 with 30,000 active paid users. The company has achieved this growth with a lean team of 8 employees.

### What makes Heptabase's approach unique?
Heptabase uses spatial note-taking and visual organization to help users manage complex information and learn difficult topics. This approach goes beyond traditional note-taking apps by providing a powerful interface specifically designed for thinking and learning.

### How can I contact or learn more about Heptabase?
Based on the provided information, Heptabase is located in Taipei, Taiwan and was part of Y Combinator's W22 batch. Additional contact details are not provided in the available information.

### What are the latest developments at Heptabase?
Heptabase raised a $1.7 million seed round in April 2022 and achieved $1.2 million in revenue in 2024. The company has grown to 30,000 paid users while maintaining an 8-person team.

## Tags

b2b, infrastructure, platform, productivity, cloud-native, saas

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*Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*