Enterprise leaders face a critical compliance challenge as workplace communication fragments across personal and corporate platforms, creating data security and operational control problems that existing solutions fail to address. An Australian–New Zealand startup plans to fill this gap with locally controlled infrastructure.

Corro, launched by Xero founder Rod Drury and former AWS executive Sara Goldsworthy, is developing a secure messaging platform designed to give organisations control over sensitive workplace communications. The platform prioritises data sovereignty alongside security, directly addressing the trust gaps many compliance–focused organisations face when using consumer–grade communication tools.

"Communication is the connective tissue of society, the invisible infrastructure of organisations," Goldsworthy stated. "Yet we're forced to work around our systems rather than them working for us."

Research shows 67% of employees use personal communication applications at work, while 60% report difficulty locating messages they know exist. These behaviours create compliance exposure for organisations managing sensitive information in regulated industries including government, finance, healthcare, and legal services.

A Proofpoint report published in November 2025 found organisations experience an average of 11 data loss incidents yearly, with nearly 58% attributable to careless employees or contractors. Enterprise chat remains a significant blind spot: 87% of enterprise chat usage occurs through unmanaged accounts, and 62% of users paste personally identifiable information into them.

"Leaders are trapped in an impossible trade–off," Goldsworthy explained, highlighting the tension between security and usability. "Lock everything down and lose flexibility, or allow choice and live with chaos. We're not accepting that as inevitable. The stakes go beyond productivity—it's about protecting institutional knowledge, maintaining operational security, and ensuring control over critical communications."

Corro is being built by a team that combines government security expertise with private–sector technology experience. Head of Product Jess Modini brings backgrounds from AWS, the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and the Department of Defence. Head of Engineering Brian Farnhill spent time at both AWS and Microsoft.

Drury, who built and exited email archiving platform Aftermail in the early 2000s before founding Xero, emphasised the depth of the communication problem. "It staggers me that organisational messaging remains this broken - with critical enterprise information fragmented across a myriad of consumer apps."

Corro is currently in development with a demonstration scheduled for 2026.

https://corro.co