# Good Tape

Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/good-tape/ · added 2026-11-12 · updated 2026-11-12

**In short.** Good Tape (AI transcription for journalists and professional teams, Denmark): US$2M a year recurring revenue, April 2025. Evidence grade D: reported, not verified. Team: Founded in 2022 by 2 journalists, with 3 co-founders listed today; 12 people on the team page in November 2026. Launched 2022; still running.

AI transcription for journalists and professional teams · Denmark · AI-native · started small, grew after funding · still running · group: Voice and audio

- Outcome: US$2M a year recurring revenue, April 2025 (evidence grade of the headline number: D; headline in US dollars: 2000000)
- Launch: 2022; months from launch to the outcome: 28
- Team: Founded in 2022 by 2 journalists, with 3 co-founders listed today; 12 people on the team page in November 2026
- Outside funding: EUR 600K from Nordic Makers with a buyout from Zetland, October 2026 (MrWeb)
- Main factor: Own problem
- Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 2, capital needed 2
- Tags: AI-native, Small team, Funded, Running, B2B, Media

Links:

- Visit goodtape.io: https://goodtape.io/

**The product.** Speech-to-text for interviews, meetings and recordings in more than 100 languages. It labels speakers, writes summaries and lets a user chat with a transcript. The company says it stores files in the EU and never trains on customer data. It sells paid plans to journalists, researchers, lawyers and teams.

**Why it worked.** It started as a fix for a problem in the founders' own newsroom, where journalists spent hours typing interviews. Tech.eu reported in April 2025 that the company reached US$2 million in ARR in less than 2 years. The company says privacy is its main difference from other tools.

Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; E = no revenue figure found, so the headline is a non-money fact and the other facts carry their own grades; calc = computed on this page from graded facts.

## Summary

Good Tape is an AI transcription service: software that turns recorded speech into written text. A user uploads an audio or video file and gets a transcript with speaker labels, summaries and a chat function. The company, Good Tape ApS, is based in Copenhagen. It sells to journalists, researchers, lawyers, consultants and public-sector teams.

MrWeb reported on 2 October 2026 that two journalists founded the company in 2022 as a tool for employees of the Danish newspaper Zetland. Tech.eu reported that the idea came from a person in Zetland's IT department. MrWeb reported that in October 2026 the founders bought Zetland's stake, with EUR 600,000 from Nordic Makers. The team page lists 12 people.

The headline figure is one sentence in a Tech.eu article of 14 April 2025. It says the company reached US$2 million in ARR, annual recurring revenue, in less than 2 years. The article does not say who gave the figure, and no payment processor confirms it. The 2022 start rests on one trade-press article.

## Why did Good Tape work?

### The founders built it to solve their own newsroom problem

The company's about page says it started as "a basic tool we built to save ourselves time". Tech.eu reported that journalists at Zetland complained about four hours of typing per interview. A person in the IT department built a first version. Journalists could drag a file into a folder and read the transcript the next morning.

### It sold privacy as the difference from other transcription tools

Tech.eu reported the CEO saying that the company does not touch customer data and runs its own language model. The company's pages say files are stored in the EU and never used for training. Tech.eu reported that this delayed the summary feature by four extra months.

### It widened from transcription to a searchable archive of recordings

MrWeb reported in October 2026 that the company is moving beyond transcription to a private, searchable knowledge base of recordings. The Explore feature is the first step. It is free in every plan during its launch, and the company lists a later price.

## How it was built

These details come from the Tech.eu interview article and the company's own pages. They are grade C or D.

- The first version was a folder: a user dragged in a file and the transcript was ready the next morning, according to Tech.eu.
- Tech.eu reported that the base model is open source, and that the company adds audio pre-processing for file formats, noise and silences.
- Tech.eu reported that the company hosts its own language model for summaries and transcript chat, with clickable sources in the transcript.
- The company's list of data subprocessors names Google for transcription and Azure for extra capacity. It names Supabase for login and databases, Scaleway for file storage, and MongoDB for editor state.
- The same list names Chargebee and Stripe for payments, Brevo for email, PostHog for analytics, HubSpot for customers and ChartMogul for subscription metrics.

Sources: [1, 10]

## Who tried this before Good Tape, and why did they fail?

Four records in our database of failed startups describe failed note-taking, recording or translation startups. The values below are from that database, whose summaries are written by AI. They are not independently verified, and the site shortens the cause of failure.

The failed startups come from our database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade.

### VideoNotes (2010 to 2013; funding US$1.2M cash burned; cause: Niche too narrow)

- Promise: Notes that stay synchronized with the timestamps of a video lecture.
- Why it died: The record says it was held in the education sector without a clear path to profit.
- Record: 

### Memo (2020 to 2023; funding US$5.0M cash burned; cause: Competition)

- Promise: A place for teams to share and keep rich media memos.
- Why it died: The record says it could not compete with incumbents that added similar features.
- Record: 

### TurboTranslations (2014 to 2023; funding US$150K cash burned; cause: Technology shift)

- Promise: Faster and cheaper translation through a marketplace of human translators.
- Why it died: The record says machine translation removed the need for a human marketplace. Its text uses the word "likely" about the company's offer.
- Record: 

### Transpose (2012 to 2018; funding US$0 cash burned; cause: Competition)

- Promise: A note-taking and data tool for business customers, as an alternative to Evernote.
- Why it died: The record says it failed to position itself in a market dominated by incumbents.
- Record: 

## What changed

Each of the four sold a tool to capture or organize spoken or written information, and each ran into larger rivals or a faster technology. TurboTranslations lost its business when machine translation improved. The others met incumbents that added the same features.

Good Tape started when open speech recognition models became usable by a small team, according to Tech.eu. It chose a narrow group, journalists, and a clear promise: private transcripts. Tech.eu reported that the CEO expects transcription itself to become a commodity. The company is now adding search across a user's archive.

## Can one person copy Good Tape now?

**Verdict: The first version, yes. The market position, only with a narrow audience.**

A small team can still build a working transcription tool from open models. The reported lead came from one clear audience, journalists, and a privacy promise. The CEO told Tech.eu that transcription will become a commodity, so a copy needs a feature that others lack.

1. Find a group that types or reviews recordings by hand, and build for that group's own pain.
2. Pick one promise that large rivals do not make, for example no training on customer data.
3. Offer a free trial of a fixed size, such as 1 hour, so the product shows its quality.
4. Add search and chat over the stored transcripts, because that part is harder to copy than the transcript.

**What is still open.** Other groups with large archives of recordings and strict privacy rules: courts, newsrooms, research teams and public agencies.

## How much revenue does Good Tape make? The numbers, graded

Tech.eu reported US$2 million in ARR in April 2025, from one article. The company's own page claims about 3 million users in November 2026

| Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual recurring revenue, April 2025 | US$2 million | D | Tech.eu, 14 April 2025: "It has reached $2 million in ARR in less than 2 years." The article does not say who stated the figure. It was written after an interview with the CEO. | [1] |
| Users, April 2025 | 2.5 million | D | Tech.eu, 14 April 2025, with "over 10 million files" transcribed. | [1] |
| Users and transcriptions, October 2026 | about 3 million users and more than 15 million transcriptions | D | MrWeb, 2 October 2026, which retells the company's announcement of the buyout. The home page says "100 languages • 3M users • Privacy first". | [2, 3] |
| Company founded | 2022 | D | MrWeb: "The firm was founded in 2022 by two journalists". The legal start date was not read: the Danish company register answered 403 and was not used. | [2] |
| Public launch of Good Tape | 2023 | D | Wikipedia, article on Zetland: "In 2023 Zetland launched Good Tape, a speech-to-text transcription tool initially created for internal use that was later spun off as a separate entity." | [13] |
| Older company behind the product | Zetland, founded in 2012 | D | Wikipedia, article on Zetland: "Founded in Copenhagen in 2012". Good Tape is a newer product, so this page counts from its own start. | [13] |
| Earliest archived copy of goodtape.io | 1 December 2023 | C | Internet Archive index of the domain. It lists no capture before that date, and no older domain was found. | [11] |
| Legal entity | Good Tape ApS, Copenhagen | C | The terms of service name the service as offered by "Good Tape ApS". The footer says the product was made "in Copenhagen, Denmark". | [8] |
| Founders | Lasse Finderup, CEO, and Ýmir Gyðuson Gíslason, CTO | D | MrWeb names both as the two founders. The company's team page lists a third co-founder, "Chair & co-founder", by first name only. | [2, 6] |
| Team, November 2026 | 12 people named on the team page | C | The team page lists 3 co-founders and 9 other staff: sales, account management, growth and engineering roles. The careers page calls the company "a VC backed scale-up". No source gives the headcount in April 2025. | [6, 7] |
| Funding, October 2026 | EUR 600,000 from Nordic Makers | D | MrWeb: part of the management buyout of Zetland's stake. Alexander Aghassipour of Nordic Makers joined the board. | [2] |
| Price of the base plan | USD 20 a month, or USD 192 a year | C | Data on the company's pricing page, which loads by script. The plan name is not shown. | [4] |
| Explore add-on price | EUR 10 a month, or EUR 8 billed yearly | C | Company pricing page. Explore is free in every plan during its launch. | [4] |
| Time from the 2022 start to the April 2025 figure | at least 28 months | calc | Calculated: December 2022 to April 2025. The founding month is not published, so the true gap may be longer. Tech.eu says "less than 2 years". | [1, 2] |

How to read this table. Grade D means one source, not checked by a second one. Grade C is the company's own page. A "calc" value was computed on this page from other rows.

## Pricing

Good Tape prices in November 2026: figures from the pricing page data and the Explore page (grade C)

| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 0 | 0 | 1 hour of transcription, no credit card |
| Base paid plan (name not shown in the page data) | 16 | 20 | USD 10 for the first month; hours not published |
| Business | not published | not published | 20 hours per seat, API access, service agreement |
| Explore add-on | EUR 8 | EUR 10 | free while it is new |

The pricing page loads the base plan price by script. The page data holds USD 20 a month, USD 10 for the first month, and USD 192 a year, which is USD 16 a month. The plan name and the hours included are not shown in that data. The company's pages also name Pro and Business plans without prices. Explore is an add-on for searching all recordings. It is free during its launch and then costs EUR 10 a month, or EUR 8 a month billed yearly.

## When did Good Tape launch, and how did it grow? Timeline

From an internal newsroom tool in 2022 to an independent company with outside money in October 2026. Each entry carries its grade.

- **2022** (grade D [2]): Two journalists found the company as a tool for Zetland employees to make accurate transcripts, according to MrWeb.
- **1 December 2023** (grade C [11]): The earliest archived copy of goodtape.io in the Internet Archive index.
- **14 April 2025** (grade D [1]): Tech.eu reports 2.5 million users, more than 10 million files and US$2 million in ARR.
- **4 December 2025** (grade C [10]): The company updates its list of data subprocessors, the vendors that handle customer data.
- **2 October 2026** (grade D [2]): MrWeb reports the buyout of Zetland's stake, the EUR 600,000 round and the launch of Explore.
- **12 November 2026** (grade C [3, 4]): The home page claims 3 million users, and the pricing page shows Explore as free during its launch.

## What could go wrong for Good Tape?

- **What is not verified.** The US$2 million ARR figure rests on one Tech.eu sentence of 14 April 2025 that names no speaker. No payment-processor profile or filing was found. A reader could ask the company for a Stripe or Chargebee statement. The company start of 2022 rests on one MrWeb article; the register of Danish companies was not readable. The product began inside Zetland, an older media company that Wikipedia dates to 2012. No source gives the number of staff in April 2025.
- **Funding statements differ.** The press page says the founder is known for speaking about building a product "without venture capital". The careers page says "We're a VC backed scale-up". MrWeb reported a EUR 600,000 round in October 2026. The pages carry no dates.
- **Counters, badges and testimonials on the company's pages.** The home page claims 3 million users. It shows eight media logos, among them BBC, The Economist and Vogue, with no caption or link. Other company pages show "4.7/5 Google Reviews" without a link to the reviews. The home page also claims ISO 27001 certification, with no certificate shown. It says Zetland saves 20,000 hours a year, while the newsroom page says "Nearly 9,000 hours per year". Three testimonials name a person and a job title. One of them is the editor-in-chief of Zetland, the company's owner until October 2026. No independent copy of the testimonials was searched.
- **Start date and ownership.** The tool began inside Zetland before it became an independent company in October 2026. The 2022 date could mean the internal tool or the company. Wikipedia says Zetland launched Good Tape in 2023. Tech.eu says revenue reached US$2 million in less than 2 years, which also fits a later commercial launch. The company's newsroom page says Zetland's CEO chairs the Good Tape board. MrWeb names two founders, and a company page for academic users names three.
- **Other content on the company's site.** The company blog carries a German-language article about online gambling, dated 25 January 2026. It links the words "Website besuchen – TurboWinz" to an outside website. The article does not mention transcription. No source says who placed it or whether anyone paid for it. The site also markets lecture transcription to students. Those pages do not mention academic honesty.

## Sources

1. Tech.eu, 14 April 2025: How Danish transcription platform Good Tape grew from a newsroom hack to 2.5M users globally — https://tech.eu/2025/04/14/how-danish-transcription-platform-good-tape-grew-from-a-newsroom-hack-to-25m-users-globally/ (grade D). Read in full. Source for the US$2 million ARR sentence, the user count, the founding story and the privacy approach. The article does not say who gave the ARR figure.
2. Daily Research News Online (MrWeb), 2 October 2026: Funds and MBO for Danish Transcript Firm Good Tape — https://www.mrweb.com/drno/news40415.htm (grade D). Read in full. Source for the 2022 founding, the founders' roles, the buyout of Zetland's stake and the EUR 600,000 round.
3. Good Tape home page, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the 3 million users claim, the logo strip, the testimonials and the Zetland counter.
4. Good Tape pricing page and Explore page, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/pricing/ (grade C). Read in full. The base plan price comes from data embedded in the page source, because the plan cards load by script. Explore prices are in the page text.
5. Good Tape press page, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/press/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the newsroom origin, the founder's name and the statement about building without venture capital.
6. Good Tape team page, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/meet-our-team/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the 12 people and their roles.
7. Good Tape careers page, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/careers/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the phrase "VC backed scale-up" and the co-founder roles.
8. Good Tape terms of service, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/terms-of-service/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the legal entity Good Tape ApS and the age limit of 18.
9. Good Tape about page, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/about-good-tape/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the sentence that the product began as a tool built to save the journalists' own time.
10. Good Tape data subprocessors page, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/data-subprocessors/ (grade C). Read in full. The company's own list of vendors, last updated 4 December 2025.
11. Internet Archive capture index for goodtape.io, read 12 November 2026 — https://web.archive.org/cdx/search/cdx?url=goodtape.io&limit=3&output=txt&fl=timestamp,statuscode (grade C). Read in full. The three earliest captures are from 1, 19 and 20 December 2023.
12. Database of failed startups, local export — /method/#dead (grade C). Record pages read on the website on 12 November 2026. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.
13. Wikipedia, Zetland (newspaper), read 12 November 2026 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zetland_(newspaper) (grade D). Read in full. Source for Zetland's founding in 2012 and the 2023 launch of Good Tape.
14. Good Tape page for newsrooms, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/good-tape-for-newsrooms/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the roles of Zetland's editor-in-chief and CEO, and for the figure of nearly 9,000 hours.
15. Good Tape blog, article on online gambling dated 25 January 2026, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/blog/glucksspiel-im-internet-spielregeln-limits-und-auszeiten-verstehen/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the note about an unrelated article with an outside link.
16. Good Tape pages on academic and lecture transcription, read 12 November 2026 — https://goodtape.io/academic-transcription-software/ (grade C). Read in full. Source for the three founders that the company names and for the marketing to students.

Contact: aiolum@livyden.com. Run Good Tape? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com (subject: Correction: Good Tape).