Miro (collaboration platform)
 | |
| Miro | |
| Formerly | RealtimeBoard |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Software as a service |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | Amsterdam, Netherlands San Francisco, California, United States |
Number of employees | 1,864[1] |
| Website | miro |
Miro is a collaborative online platform designed to support teams in planning and execution across different locations and time zones. It is used for a variety of purposes, including brainstorming, agile planning, customer journey mapping, product design, and remote workshops. As of 2025, the platform is utilized by over 90 million users and more than 250,000 organizations worldwide.[2]
History
[edit]Founding and early years (2011–2020)
[edit]Miro was founded in 2011 under the name RealtimeBoard by Russian entrepreneurs Andrey Khusid and Oleg Shardin.[3][4] Originally designed as a simple visual whiteboarding tool, the product attracted global remote teams because its real-time collaboration features differentiated it from traditional diagramming software.
In 2018, the company raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Accel, with participation from Altair Capital and Scale Venture Partners.[5] By then, it had grown to over 2 million users.
In 2019, the company rebranded to Miro, inspired by the Catalan artist Joan Miró, to reflect its vision beyond whiteboarding into end-to-end visual collaboration.[6]
Global expansion and investment (2021–2023)
[edit]In January 2022, Miro raised $400 million in Series C funding, co-led by ICONIQ Growth, Accel, Atlassian, Dragoneer, GIC, and Scale Venture Partners, reaching a valuation of $17.5 billion.[7][8]
The company has expanded its global workforce and is jointly headquartered in Amsterdam and San Francisco.[9] It has also established offices in Austin and Sydney.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Miro's adoption, as teams sought cloud-native remote work alternatives to in-office whiteboards and meeting rooms.[10]
Becoming an innovation workspace (2024–present)
[edit]In 2024, Miro started its transition from visual collaboration platform to innovation workspace.[11] The company aims to tackle common organizational challenges that impede innovation, such as fragmented workflows and communication breakdowns.[12]
In September 2026, the Italian software company Bending Spoons agreed to acquire Miro.[13]
CEO and leadership
[edit]Andrey Khusid, co-founder and CEO, is an advocate of product-led growth and distributed work models.[14]
Jeff Chow, chief product and technology officer since 2022, previously worked at Google and Tripadvisor, and leads Miro's AI and platform innovation.[15]
Acquisitions
[edit]In October 2022, Miro acquired video conferencing startup Around to enhance synchronous collaboration directly within the Miro canvas.[16]
In June 2024, Miro acquired Danish AI design startup Uizard, strengthening its generative interface and rapid prototyping capabilities.[17]
In 2026, Miro acquired Edtech company, Reforge.[18]
Miro Desktop App
[edit]Miro’s desktop application is more appropriate for those users that use miros regularly and prefer it to be their workspace. This way, they can access the application directly from the computer’s home page and have boards different from web browser tabs, and even access shortcuts that will allow them to refresh or close a tab, exit miros, and share links to the board. The primary benefit of the application is convenience, and not additional functionality of the whiteboard; miro claims that it contains the basic features of the web version.[19]
Events
[edit]Distributed and Canvas
[edit]From 2017 to 2023, Miro hosted an annual virtual conference called Distributed focused on remote collaboration and product updates.[20][21] In 2024, the event was rebranded as Canvas and held in a hybrid format. At Canvas 2024, Miro introduced the Innovation Workspace, which SD Times described as "the company's most significant platform update since its founding."[22]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Miro". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ↑ "Miro Launches Solution Partner Program to Accelerate Enterprise Innovation and Collaboration". Businesswire.com. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ↑ "Online whiteboarding platform Miro unveils new tools to strengthen hybrid work". VentureBeat. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ↑ "Founded in Russia 11 years ago, the Miro visual collaboration software startup is now valued at $17.5bn". bne IntelliNews. 2022-01-14. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ↑ O'Hear, Steve (2018-11-08). "RealtimeBoard, a visual collaboration platform for companies, raises $25M led by Accel". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ↑ Sawers, Paul (2022-01-05). "Online whiteboarding platform Miro raises $400M to power the future of work". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
- ↑ "Software Maker Miro Becomes Eighth-Most Valuable U.S. Startup". Bloomberg.com. 2022-01-05. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ↑ "Visual collaboration company Miro valued at $17.5B following $400M in new funding". Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ↑ "Miro announces expansion in Amsterdam, names city its co-headquarters and largest hub worldwide | Miro". Miro. 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
- ↑ Zaveri, Paayal. "Hot startups like Miro and Canva are racing to dominate virtual whiteboards, an emerging category of workplace tools that sparked Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ↑ Riley, Duncan (2024-10-08). "Miro launches AI-powered Innovation Workspace to streamline team collaboration". SiliconANGLE. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ "Miro Redefines Collaboration Tools With AI-Driven Innovation Workspace". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-05-20.
- ↑ "Bending Spoons to buy Miro in $1.36 billion cash deal". Reuters. September 10, 2026. Retrieved September 10, 2026.
- ↑ "Miro's Andrey Khusid: Product-led growth in tech and beyond". Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ↑ "Breaking Barriers in Collaboration with Jeff Chow, CPTO at Miro". Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ↑ "$17.5 billion tech juggernaut Miro quietly snapped up video-chat startup Around in the battle to catch Zoom". Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ↑ "Copenhagen-based Uizard acquired by US and Amsterdam-based Miro: Know more - Silicon Canals". siliconcanals.com. 2024-06-12. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
- ↑ Nangare, Kanishka (31 March 2026). "Miro Acquires Reforge: This Is Not an Edtech Deal". Class Central. Retrieved 4 September 2026.
- ↑ "Download Miro on your device". miro.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-30.
- ↑ "Miro Distributed Conference 2023". Product Discovery Group. 18 October 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
- ↑ "Distributed 2020 conference welcome". UniversityWebinars.org. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
- ↑ Kanaracus, Chris (8 October 2024). "Miro platform gets an overhaul with Innovation Workspace". SD Times. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
