The Lausanne startup, spun out of EPFL’s robotics lab, has deployed 15 pods across Switzerland and made its first international move with a unit in Toulouse. Its founder’s longer-term ambition: making commercial real estate itself modular and on-demand.

The problem miros is solving is visible in any busy train station, airport, or hospital: people who need to make a private call, focus on work, or take a video meeting, and have nowhere appropriate to do it.

The company builds bookable, connected workpods, enclosed acoustic spaces users can locate, reserve, and unlock via a mobile app, and places them in public and semi-public venues where such infrastructure has historically not existed.

The Lausanne startup has raised €1.1 million (CHF 1 million) in a pre-seed round from business angels to expand the network.

miros was founded in 2023 by Dr Fabio Zuliani, who completed his PhD at EPFL’s Reconfigurable Robotics Lab. The company is a spinout of the EPFL ecosystem, built on robotics and adaptive-space research, though its current product is deliberately straightforward: a well-made, acoustically private pod that can be deployed where it is needed without construction or major installation.

The pods are designed in collaboration with Lakabi, a Lausanne-based furniture brand, and fully manufactured in Switzerland. The Canton of Vaud has additionally supported the development of a version made from Swiss wood (Bois Suisse).

Since launch, miros has deployed 15 workpods and worked with partners including the SwissTech Convention Centre, Beaulieu, and Hôpital Riviera-Chablais. It tested its value proposition at Geneva Airport’s GVA Runway Lab open-innovation programme, confirming product-market fit under real-world conditions.

In October it made its first international deployment, placing a pod at Village by Crédit Agricole in Toulouse, France. Total usage across all deployments is approaching 350 hours. The manufacturing partnership with Ducommun Menuisiers was initiated through the SyNNergy grant from Innovaud, the cantonal agency for innovation in Vaud.

The immediate use of the pre-seed capital is straightforward: deploy more pods across Switzerland, with a target of over 100 units in place by the end of 2026. But Zuliani has indicated that the workpod is not the end state.

“We start with pods, but the ambition goes far beyond that,” he said. “We are looking at how commercial real estate itself can become flexible, modular and on-demand. The pod is just the first building block.”

The company plans to announce several new partnerships in the coming months as it expands its Swiss footprint.