Plaud says ARR jumps to USD $100 million in two years

Plaud said it increased annual recurring revenue from USD $1 million to USD $100 million in two years, a milestone it said puts it among the fastest-growing AI businesses to reach that level of recurring software revenue.

The San Francisco-based group said more than 2 million professionals now use its products in more than 170 countries. It attributed the growth to demand for Plaud Intelligence, the software used with its Plaud Note, Plaud Note Pro, and Plaud NotePin S devices.

Plaud's model differs from that of many AI software groups by combining hardware with subscription-based software. It focuses on capturing conversations in meetings, phone calls, and in-person discussions, then turning them into notes, summaries, decisions, and follow-up tasks.

The announcement comes as AI companies face pressure to show customers will pay for products regularly rather than simply test them. Plaud argued that its growth reflects demand for tools that fit existing work habits rather than requiring workers to shift activity onto a screen.

Hardware and software

Unlike rivals centred on online meetings or desktop applications, Plaud is building around physical devices used in day-to-day work. The approach focuses on interactions outside of keyboards, including face-to-face meetings and calls.

Plaud said this has helped it stand out in the AI note-taking market. It also described itself as one of a small number of AI companies to build recurring software revenue at scale through dedicated hardware and software.

The company is positioning that model against larger, established names in workplace communications and meeting technology, including Zoom. Its pitch is that work conversations happen across multiple settings and should be captured in a single workflow rather than through separate tools.

Its platform is designed to bridge in-person discussions, phone calls, and online meetings. Plaud said that workflow lets users manage notes and follow-up actions from different kinds of professional conversations in one system.

Expansion plans

Beyond individual users, Plaud said it is expanding the product for use by teams and developers. Plaud Team is designed to bring conversational intelligence to collaborative work, while integrations with MCP and other workflows are intended to connect the system to a broader agent ecosystem.

The expansion suggests Plaud is seeking to move from a personal productivity tool to a broader workplace platform. It said the software can turn meetings, calls, and in-person conversations into shared knowledge, follow-up actions, and outputs that connect with other workplace tools.

The company did not disclose profitability, funding details, or a valuation alongside the revenue figure. It also did not provide a breakdown of how much revenue comes from hardware sales versus recurring software subscriptions.

Even so, the ARR figure is likely to draw attention, as it provides a benchmark for commercial adoption in a crowded AI market. Investors and corporate buyers have increasingly focused on whether AI companies can build repeatable revenue, retain users, and justify subscription spending after the first wave of experimentation.

Plaud said its comparison with other AI companies was based on publicly reported milestones and was intended as directional context rather than a comprehensive ranking. It added that differences in how companies define annual recurring revenue mean such comparisons should be treated with caution.

Nathan Xu, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Plaud, set out the company's position in a statement.

"Most AI companies have scaled through software behind a screen. We took a different path. The conversations that actually move things forward don't happen on a keyboard. We built the interface for the post-screen world. And the market validated it," Xu said.