Orbio, an enterprise startup that uses AI agents to manage frontline workers, announced a $21 million Series A on Monday, June 14, 2026, in a round led by Dawn Capital. The company has raised $26 million in total funding to date, with additional backing from Visionaries and 2100 Ventures.
Founded in 2025 by Sergi Bastardas, Nacho Travesí, and Antonio Melé, Orbio deploys AI agents — named Maria, Daniel, and Claire — that can interview job candidates, assess fit, monitor employee output, and conduct daily check-ins across an employee’s work lifecycle. Current customers include Poke and YUM! Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC. At behavioral health provider The Stepping Stones Group, Orbio now runs the company’s full US operation, with 20% more candidates completing the hiring process as a result.
Bastardas, who spent a decade at Amazon and floriculture startup Colvin before founding Orbio, said the company was built in response to what he saw as a lack of efficient infrastructure for managing frontline workers. He described the existing approach in industries like healthcare, retail, and logistics as fragmented, sometimes still relying on spreadsheets and phone calls.
The platform is designed so that data generated by each agent feeds back into the others. “Onboarding signals inform recruiting quality; exit interviews reveal why employees leave, which recalibrates hiring criteria; engagement data identifies retention risks,” Bastardas said. Orbio competes with startups such as Paradox and WorkJam, though Bastardas characterized the legacy approach to frontline workforce management as the company’s primary competitor.
Bastardas said the new capital will be used to hire staff and develop additional AI agents. He framed the technology’s potential reach in broad terms: “The 2.7 billion people who keep healthcare, retail, logistics, and hospitality running, most of whom don’t have a corporate email address, have previously got nothing. This is their AI moment.”
Source: TechCrunch