The €1.7 million-backed European work messenger now allows small teams to manage and organise internal conversations while staying connected with external contacts, including through WhatsApp interoperability for users in the EEA.
Balsio, the European work messaging app formerly known as BirdyChat, has launched Workspaces, expanding from professional messaging into a shared communication environment for small teams.
The new feature gives teams a Slack-style way to organise conversations around projects, clients, business areas and other parts of their work. But unlike workplace communication platforms built primarily around conversations inside a company, Balsio is designed for teams that are also actively communicating with clients, candidates, freelancers, suppliers and other external contacts.
Interoperability addresses an existing workplace habit
A 2025 study by researchers at Ghent University and Boston University found that, among employees using consumer messaging apps for workplace group chats, 65% used WhatsApp, with nearly four in five checking their work-related chats every day. This illustrates how deeply professional communication can become embedded in personal messaging apps. Balsio was originally designed to address this problem by giving professionals a separate space for work conversations without cutting them off from the external contacts they already communicate with on WhatsApp.
Balsio’s own usage data now shows that around 30% of messages sent by its users go to WhatsApp contacts, suggesting that interoperability is becoming a meaningful part of how the app is used rather than simply a feature users try once.
“Team communication software has traditionally been built around internal comms, but that is only one part of how many small businesses actually work,” said Rolands Mesters, co-founder and CEO of Balsio. “For an agency, recruiter or consultancy, some of the most important conversations are with people outside the company. Balsio brings those conversations together, so teams don’t have to keep switching between apps and losing focus just to stay connected with the people they work with.”
Workspaces without the enterprise complexity
Within a Workspace, teams can create shared chats for different areas of work, functioning similarly to channels in established workplace communication platforms. The feature is designed primarily for small teams and non-technical users, with an emphasis on keeping communication straightforward rather than building another large enterprise collaboration suite.
Workspaces are used for internal team conversations, while external contacts remain in direct chats. Eligible WhatsApp contacts can continue communicating via WhatsApp rather than joining the Balsio workspace.
Alongside Workspaces, Balsio is now available as a Windows desktop app, adding to its existing mobile, Mac and web availability. The app is available in nine European languages.
About Balsio
Balsio is a European messaging app for professional communication, founded and developed in Latvia. Formerly known as BirdyChat, it launched across Europe in May 2026 after raising €1.7 million from European investors and attracting more than 50,000 waitlist sign-ups. The app is built for small teams and professionals who want to separate work conversations from personal messaging while staying connected to colleagues and external contacts.
Balsio was the first third-party messaging service to implement interoperability with WhatsApp under the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Balsio users in the EEA can exchange one-to-one messages with WhatsApp users who have enabled third-party chats, without requiring those contacts to leave WhatsApp.
