Around

About Around

Around offers a video collaboration platform engineered to address the common pain points of virtual meetings for hybrid and remote teams. The company was founded in 2018 by Dominik Zane, Pavel Serbajlo, and Matt Zakutny, who operated in stealth mode for two years to develop the product. Zane, the CEO, drew from his extensive experience in remote collaboration, which included selling his previous startup, M.dot, to GoDaddy in 2013. The founders' goal was to build a communication tool that they themselves would want to use, focusing on making interaction less formal and more integrated into the workflow.

The platform's core offering is a video calling experience that diverges from traditional grid-layout conferencing tools. Around displays participants in small, circular frames that float over other applications, allowing users to collaborate on documents, designs, or code without sacrificing screen real estate. This design is complemented by an AI-powered camera that automatically zooms and centers the speaker's face, minimizing background distractions. Key to its functionality is its advanced audio technology, featuring AI-based noise-cancellation and a proprietary 'EchoTerminator' software that prevents feedback when multiple users join a call from the same physical room. To foster a more engaging and less fatiguing meeting environment, the service incorporates interactive elements such as emoji reactions, GIF responses, collaborative note-taking, and integrated timers.

The company's business model focused on providing a lightweight, design-centric alternative to more established video conferencing services. After its public launch in March 2020, Around secured over $15 million in funding from investors including Floodgate, Initialized Capital, and Slack. In a significant milestone, Around was acquired by the online visual collaboration platform Miro in October 2022. Following the acquisition, the product was rebranded as 'Around by Miro Labs' and was made available free of charge, with plans to integrate Miro's whiteboarding functionalities. However, the standalone Around application was sunset on March 31, 2025, with its core features and design philosophy being integrated into Miro's own video calling service.