Ando raises $20M to build a team chat app for people and AI agents

In short: Ando says it raised $20 million to build a Slack-style work chat app where AI agents can join conversations as full team members.

What happened

Ando, a startup founded by Sara Du, has come out of “stealth,” meaning it has been building quietly before talking publicly. The company is making a team messaging app meant to replace tools like Slack for companies that use AI agents.

AI agents are software helpers that can do tasks on their own, like researching, summarizing, and coordinating work (think of them like a digital coworker, not just a chatbot you ask one question). Du told TechCrunch that in today’s tools, people often end up acting as “messengers” who copy an agent’s work into team chats. Ando is designed so the agent can be in the chat directly.

Ando says its app includes channels, direct messages, group chats, and live calls. Du said calls can be transcribed, meaning turned into text, so an agent can read what was discussed. Agents can browse channels, decide which ones to join, and even message a human teammate if they think something needs attention.

To fund its next steps, Ando said it raised $20 million in pre-seed and seed funding from Accel, Index Ventures, and Emergence. Du said the money will go toward hiring and paying for more “tokens,” which are the units AI systems use when they read and write text (like a meter that runs while the agent works).

Why it matters

Work chat is where many teams make decisions. If AI agents can safely follow those conversations and help in real time, small teams could handle more work without constantly relaying updates by hand.

Source: TechCrunch AI