Paris-based startup Mio has successfully closed a €1.9 million ($2.2 million) pre-seed funding round to develop its AI colleague that integrates directly into Slack. The round was co-led by Fabric.vc and Topology.vc, with the capital earmarked for expanding the engineering team and accelerating product development. Mio aims to redefine workplace productivity by embedding a proactive AI assistant within existing team workflows, eliminating the need for another standalone application.
Redefining the AI Assistant
Mio is designed to function less like a tool and more like a team member, operating seamlessly within the familiar Slack environment. Founder and CEO Arthaud Mesnard stated that the future of AI at work is not another app but an intelligent assistant that understands company context. The platform assists with recurring tasks, keeps information current, and proactively advances projects before being prompted by a user.
Unlike general-purpose chatbots that draw from public information, Mio is grounded in a company’s specific data, including messages, documents, and project tickets. This allows it to provide highly contextual answers and execute tasks on behalf of the team across connected tools. By being model-agnostic, Mio leverages the best AI models for different functions, avoiding dependency on a single provider and optimizing performance.
Proactive Integration and Workflow Automation
The platform distinguishes itself by building a deep, evolving understanding of how an organization operates over time. It connects with thousands of tools a team already uses, such as Google Workspace, Notion, and HubSpot, learning company-specific context. This enables Mio to execute complex work across these systems rather than merely offering suggestions, transforming it into an active participant in daily operations.
The company emphasizes that Mio is engineered to be proactive, not just reactive, anticipating what needs to be done next to move work forward. This shift from answering questions to getting work done represents a new generation of AI agents operating directly inside collaborative hubs. Mio believes Slack is the natural home for this evolution, turning the communication platform into a central command for automated work.
Early Success and Commitment to Security
Mio has already gained significant traction, with over 100 companies from early-stage startups to Series B scale-ups using the platform daily. Early-access customers report saving an average of 8.2 hours per week, a full workday, by automating workflows. These tasks include generating morning briefs, summarizing meetings, updating CRM records, and handling various engineering and analysis duties.
Addressing critical concerns around data privacy, Mio assures users that it is GDPR compliant and operates on secure infrastructure within Europe. The AI’s data access is strictly limited to channels and direct messages where it has been explicitly invited. Furthermore, the company maintains a firm policy of not using any customer data to train its AI models, ensuring client information remains private.
With its new funding, Mio is poised to expand its mission of eradicating busywork and empowering teams to focus on higher-value activities. The investment will fuel team growth and product enhancement as the company continues to build what it calls "your best hire yet." Mio's vision is to create AI that gives people more agency, seamlessly integrating intelligent automation into the fabric of daily work.