Sergi Bastardas launched Orbio in 2025 to address inefficiencies in managing frontline workers, drawing from his experience at Amazon and the floriculture startup Colvin. On Monday, Orbio announced a $21 million Series A funding round led by Dawn Capital. The company serves clients including Poke and YUM! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC, for onboarding and managing their frontline employees.
According to Bastardas, Orbio’s customers are transitioning from pilot programs to full deployments. The Stepping Stones Group is utilizing Orbio to manage its complete U.S. operations, with a reported 20% increase in the hiring of candidates. The company’s AI agents, named Maria, Daniel, and Claire, can interview candidates, assess their fit, monitor performance, and conduct daily employee check-ins.
The primary goal of Orbio is to enable businesses to autonomously manage their workforces. “Each agent generates data that 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 stated. The startup has now raised a total of $26 million, with investors including Visionaries and 2100 Ventures, and plans to use the new funds for further hiring and development of AI agents.
Bastardas also emphasized the transformative potential of AI for the 2.7 billion people working in sectors such as healthcare, retail, logistics, and hospitality. He described the current management of frontline workers as a fragmented process, often reliant on spreadsheets and phone calls. “This will be a transformation for businesses, but also the workforce,” he said. “This is their AI moment.”
