Astro

Astro Technology, Inc., operating as Astro, was a Palo Alto-based company founded in 2015 by a team with deep expertise in email and messaging platforms: Andy Pflaum, Roland Schemers, and Ross Dargahi. The founding team had a significant track record, having contributed to the development of prominent tools like Zimbra, Acompli (which became the foundation for Outlook Mobile after its acquisition by Microsoft), and Mumbo (acquired by LinkedIn). Schemers, the CTO, had previously served as Chief Architect for large-scale messaging systems at companies like Openwave and was a co-founder of Zimbra.

The company developed an artificial intelligence-based email application for Mac, iOS, and Android designed to help users manage their inboxes more efficiently. Astro's application for Gmail and Office 365 used an AI-powered chatbot, Astrobot, to declutter and prioritize messages. Key features included a priority inbox that automatically sorted important messages, recommendations for unsubscribing from mailing lists, and the ability to flag VIP contacts. The platform also incorporated modern email functionalities such as snoozing emails, scheduling them to be sent later, and tracking when they were opened or replied to. Extending its reach beyond traditional email clients, Astro launched a skill for Amazon Alexa and later integrated its voice assistant, Astrobot Voice, directly into its mobile apps, allowing users to manage emails through voice commands.

Astro operated on a freemium model, offering its AI-driven email management tools to individual users and teams. The company's primary focus was on enhancing productivity by streamlining email workflows. In September 2018, the workplace communication platform Slack acquired Astro in a move that was largely seen as an "acquihire" to gain the team's talent and expertise in email and AI. Following the acquisition, Astro's applications were shut down on October 10, 2018, and the team was integrated into Slack to improve the interoperability between email and Slack's channel-based messaging platform. Prior to the acquisition, Astro had raised $11.3 million in funding from investors including Redpoint Ventures, Harrison Metal, and Aspect Ventures.

Keywords: email management, AI email assistant, inbox zero, Astrobot, productivity app, intelligent inbox, email organization, Slack acquisition, Andy Pflaum, Roland Schemers, email chatbot, voice assistant email, email tracking, snooze email, unified inbox, Astro Technology, mobile email client, calendar integration, enterprise communication, messaging platform