Investors backed a new approach to managing frontline staff with AI agents, promising to replace spreadsheets and calls with automated hiring and daily operations.
After more than ten years working at Amazon and participating in the floristry startup Colvin, the founders noticed one major weakness: the lack of an effective ‘human infrastructure’ to manage workers outside the office. This became the catalyst for creating Orbio in 2025 in partnership with Nacho Travesí and Antonio Melé.
Orbio is a corporate startup that helps businesses manage frontline workers through AI-powered agents.
On Monday the company announced a Series A round of $21 million led by Dawn Capital. Among its clients are Poke and YUM! Brands (owners of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC), who use Orbio to recruit and manage their frontline staff. Orbio employees are moving from pilot trials to full product deployment. As an example, The Stepping Stones Group, a provider of behavioral health services, where Orbio now runs a full operation in the United States, and 20% of candidates pass the screening.
Orbio agents – Maria, Daniel, and Claire – can conduct interviews with candidates, assess their fit, track performance, and organize daily checks throughout the work cycle. The aim is for the business to autonomously manage its workforce while delegating part of HR operations to AI agents, says Bastardas.
Competitive Landscape and the Impact of AI
“Each agent generates data that feeds back to others: onboarding signals affect the quality of hiring; exit interviews reveal why employees stay or leave, which recalibrates hiring criteria; engagement data helps identify turnover risks.”
– Sergi Bastardas
Orbio competes with several startups – such as Paradox, which automates recruiting, and WorkJam, which helps manage frontline workers.
Bastardas believes the main competition is the outdated approach to managing frontline workers, especially in healthcare, retail, and logistics – a fragmented process that is sometimes reduced to spreadsheets and phone calls. Yet the world is rapidly changing thanks to artificial intelligence. To date, Orbio has raised $26 million from investors, including Visionaries and 2100 Ventures. According to Bastardas, the funds are intended to be spent on expanding the AI-agent headcount and enhancing their capabilities.
“This will be a transformation for both business and the workforce,” Bastardas summarized. “2.7 billion people who support work in healthcare, retail, logistics, and hospitality often do not have corporate email and previously had no opportunity. This is their AI moment.”
As Orbio grows, further expansion of AI usage and refinement of frontline workforce management processes are expected, which could lead to substantial gains in efficiency in industries with dynamic labor demand.