Ando Launches AI-Native Messaging App, Raises $20 Million to Challenge Slack

1 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 24

$20 million in pre-seed and seed funding accompanied Ando’s emergence from stealth with a team messaging app built for both human workers and AI agents.
Ando argues Slack and Teams were built for a pre-agent era, so its platform gives agents identities, inboxes and access to channels, DMs, group chats and transcribed calls.
Those agents can join conversations without being tagged, notify employees on their own and connect parallel discussions across channels—features founder Sara Du says remove humans as “meat proxies.”
Accel, Index Ventures and Emergence backed the startup, which says it already serves customers in software, real estate and finance across 15 countries, though many teams are still small.
The launch pits Ando against incumbents already adding AI features, including Slack and Microsoft Teams, as well as newer rivals like Jack Dorsey-backed Buzz.