What Metro Retro does

Metro Retro, now rebranded to Spreo and operating as Deqo Software Limited, is a London-based SaaS company founded in 2019 that provides an online collaborative whiteboard platform designed for agile software development teams. The product facilitates retrospectives, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and other agile ceremonies through a digital canvas supporting sticky notes, voting, templates, and real-time multi-user collaboration. Notable technical components include a native Jira integration enabling two-way synchronization between retrospective action items and engineering ticketing systems, a library of 100+ pre-built agile ceremony templates, and GDPR-compliant infrastructure supporting enterprise data residency requirements.

The company operates a product-led growth go-to-market model, offering a free 30-day trial alongside paid SaaS subscriptions, and supplements this self-serve motion with enterprise sales for larger deployments. Named customers include Meltwater (with reported usage by 500+ engineers), Kayak, ryd, Lucca, Eat Club, Gear4music, and XITASO — spanning large technology platforms, HR SaaS, mobility, food services, e-commerce, and engineering services. The team is small at approximately 7 employees, and the company has not publicly disclosed any external funding rounds, indicating a bootstrapped operating model. The 2025 rebrand from Metro Retro to Spreo signals a strategic repositioning, potentially broadening the product's scope beyond retrospectives into adjacent collaboration or mapping use cases.

Name

Metro Retro

Legal name

Deqo Software Limited

Website

https://metroretro.io

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Metro Retro, rebranded to Spreo (Deqo Software Limited), is a London-based SaaS company founded in 2019 offering an online collaborative whiteboard for agile development teams, serving customers including Meltwater, Kayak, and Gear4music through a product-led growth model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription: Subscription-based SaaS model with team pricing tiers. Free 30-day trial available. Revenue likely from team seat-based or workspace-based subscription.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Spreo (formerly Metro Retro) is an online whiteboard SaaS platform purpose-built for agile engineering teams to run retrospectives, sprint planning, backlog refinement, planning poker, daily standups, story mapping, brainstorming, and collaborative workshops. The product combines a visual drag-and-drop canvas with sticky notes, voting, frames, zones, 100+ customizable templates, and a native Jira integration to connect meeting outputs to engineering tracking workflows. It is sold via a self-serve 30-day free trial and founder-led enterprise demos, targeting teams ranging from agile startups to large engineering organizations including Meltwater and Kayak.

Product overview

Spreo (formerly Metro Retro) is a single unified online whiteboard platform designed specifically for engineering and agile teams. The core product is the Spreo Online Whiteboard, which integrates a comprehensive suite of collaboration tools including Templates (100+ pre-built session templates), Task Tracking, Sticky Notes, Jira Integration, Planning Poker, and Fun Stuff (gamification tools). The platform is organized around key use cases including Agile Meetings (retrospectives, sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily standups, story mapping), Team Collaboration (brainstorming, workshops, diagramming), and supports roles such as Scrum Masters, Developers, Agile Coaches, Product Owners, Engineering Managers, and Product Designers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Spreo Online Whiteboard (formerly Metro Retro) Spreo (formerly Metro Retro) is a web-based online whiteboard SaaS platform for agile engineering and product teams to run retrospectives, sprint planning, backlog refinement, planning poker, daily standups, story mapping, brainstorming, diagramming, and collaborative workshops. It includes sticky notes, voting and polls, frames and zones, private writing, gamification gadgets, and a native Jira integration, and is sold via a 30-day free trial and founder-led enterprise demos to teams ranging from agile startups to large enterprises such as Meltwater and Kayak.

Quantifiable outcome

• Enabled remote work for 500+ engineers at Meltwater without prompting or training
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature11 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• JiracoreTechnology or IntegrationNative Jira integration for connecting Spreo whiteboard sessions with Jira issue tracking. Allows teams to link planning and retrospective outputs directly to their agile tracking workflow in Jira.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Jamboard (Google): Jamboard was Google's collaborative whiteboard product, distributed via Google Workspace. Although discontinued in 2024, it historically represented a broad-incumbent competitor bundled into enterprise productivity suites — relevant context for Spreo's enterprise go-to-market motion.
• Microsoft Whiteboard: Microsoft Whiteboard is a free, Office-integrated collaborative whiteboard bundled into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. It is a broad incumbent offering rather than an agile-focused product, but competes for general whiteboard use within Microsoft-centric enterprises.
• Atlassian Jira: Atlassian Jira is the dominant agile project management tool and Spreo's primary integration partner. While not a whiteboard, Jira is increasingly layering collaborative planning features (Jira Plans, Atlas) that could compete with or substitute for Spreo in sprint planning workflows.

Direct peers

• Lucidspark: Lucidspark is the whiteboard offering from Lucid, a broader visual collaboration suite. It competes directly with Spreo for agile team workflows, planning sessions, and retrospective-style meetings, with strong enterprise sales motion.
• Conceptboard: Conceptboard is a collaborative whiteboard platform focused on visual feedback, annotation, and team workshops. It overlaps with Spreo's collaboration and workshop use cases, particularly for distributed teams working on creative and design projects.
• Mural: Mural is a digital whiteboard focused on visual collaboration and team workshops. It directly competes with Spreo for agile ceremonies, brainstorming, and facilitation use cases, with overlapping feature sets including sticky notes, voting, templates, and timer/gadget features.
• Miro: Miro is the leading online collaborative whiteboard platform with a broad set of templates, sticky notes, and integrations. It competes directly with Spreo for agile team use cases like retrospectives, sprint planning, and workshops, but targets a much wider audience including designers, consultants, and educators.
• EasyRetro: EasyRetro is a lightweight retrospective-focused tool with similar agile ceremony specialization to Spreo's original Metro Retro positioning. It competes for scrum master and agile team retrospective workflows, particularly among smaller teams seeking simpler tools.
• FigJam by Figma: FigJam is Figma's collaborative whiteboard offering integrated with the Figma design platform. It competes with Spreo for team collaboration, brainstorming, and diagramming, and benefits from deep integration with the dominant design tool among product teams.

Emerging players

• Stormboard: Stormboard is a collaborative sticky-note and brainstorming platform aimed at enterprise teams running structured workshops. It overlaps with Spreo on retrospective, brainstorming, and workshop use cases but targets a more enterprise facilitation audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/metroretro

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Metro Retro