Ciao is ceasing activities

It is with deep regret that we have decided to stop the activity of Ciao. It was a tough decision, as we loved every minute of the journey to build an app for the new ways of working.
Despite our substantial funding, we needed to either reach profitability this year or raise another round of funding to sustain the activity. However, our growth has been too slow to reach profitability, and the economic situation has changed drastically making raising new funds very difficult.
Ciao was born during the pandemic as a solution to manage office capacity through desk booking. We knew that the workplace would be very different once we could return to the office.
We envisioned creating the technology for companies to offer a flexible and connected workplace. We wanted you to choose where work happens to give the best of yourselves, enjoy a great experience at the office and connect with your colleagues in person. And we wanted to make all this fun and enjoyable!
We think we succeeded a bit. And we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you for your trust and all the valuable feedback you gave us that made us better.
We still strongly believe in our vision but time is playing against us. The reality is that the demand for desk booking tools has plunged, as offices are half empty with the wide adoption of hybrid work. And with the current turbulent times, companies are cautious with their spending and not ready to invest in our hybrid work solution.
We postponed this painful decision many times because we love building Ciao and being part of this incredible work revolution. We looked at many possibilities to keep the application alive through partnerships or acquisitions, but this has failed.
We will disconnect the application from April 1st, 2023, so you have time to look for an alternative solution. From today until that day we will stop developing new features. Any custom developments or integrations will also be stopped.
We have been able to reach an agreement with deskbird for a seamless transition of our existing customers to one of the leading workplace management solution in Europe.
We have enjoyed sharing this journey with you.
Kind regards,
Celia & Walter
Ciao co-founders