Finnish company Linear becomes a unicorn after raising $82M Series C at a $1.25B valuation
The Maria 01-backed scaleup becomes the first in its portfolio to reach unicorn status after closing a Series C funding round.
Linear, the startup revolutionizing product development tools for software teams, has just secured an $82 million Series C round at a $1.25 billion valuation. The financing, led by Accel and supported by Sequoia, 01A, and new partners Seven Seven Six, Designer Fund, Indie.vc, TK Ventures, Soleio, Jeff Weinstein, Ilkka Paananen, and Lauren & Vlad Loktev, brings new fuel to their mission: building high-quality tools and embedding AI directly into software workflows.
In a candid announcement titled "Building our way", founder Karri Saarinen emphasized that Linear's path remains rooted in its founding principles. "Not much changes after a raise. We go back to building... with more fuel and sharper focus to keep solving real problems for our customers". By focusing on craftsmanship over shortcuts—no A/B tests, no SEO hacks, profitable, remote-first— Linear has positioned itself differently from the industry pack.
Recognized by over 15,000 companies—including OpenAI, Cash App, Ramp, Scale AI, and Boom—Linear is becoming "the place where teams, AI, and agents build software together".
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"Linear was built to be a generational company. It’s exciting to see this shift taking place. AI is changing the industry. We want to be the company that supplies the industry with the best possible workflows and tools for the new era", said Karri Saarinen.
The Next Era: AI-Driven Developer Workflows
Linear’s Series C isn’t just about growth—it’s about driving a generational shift in how software is built:
- Linear for Agents - a platform vision where AI agents operate seamlessly within organized workflows, handling routine or complex tasks side by side with human developers.
- Linear AI - native AI features, such as auto-issue generation, smart triage, and feedback summarization, are being integrated directly into planning, building, and execution workflows.
This integrated, workflow-centric approach positions Linear to lead in the coming era of AI-assisted development.
SUPPORT FROM MARIA 01
The Finnish scaleup, founded by Karri Saarinen (Co-founder, CEO), Jori Lallo (Co-founder), and Tuomas Artman (Co-founder, CTO), has received ongoing support from Maria 01, being part of its startup portfolio.
The organization celebrated the milestone, as this funding round officially makes Linear the first unicorn to emerge from the Maria 01 community.
"???? ?????, ?? ???????? ?????????? ????: ??? ?????? Linear ??? ?????? ? ?????? ? ????? ?? ? $?.??? ?????????, ??? ?? Accel— ?????? ?? ??? ?????-???? ????? ?? ???????!. Huge congratulations to the entire Linear team!", they shared the news on their LinkedIn account.