After a decade at Amazon and a floriculture startup, serial entrepreneur Sergi Bastardas identified a critical gap in managing frontline workers. In 2025, he co-founded Orbio, an enterprise platform leveraging AI agents to streamline hiring and onboarding for industries reliant on manual labor.
On Monday, Orbio announced a $21 million Series A investment led by Dawn Capital. The startup’s clients include fast-food giant YUM! Brands (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC) and behavioral health provider The Stepping Stones Group, which reported a 20% increase in candidate conversions after implementing Orbio’s system.
Orbio’s trio of AI agents—Maria, Daniel, and Claire—handle end-to-end workforce management: conducting candidate interviews, evaluating cultural fit, monitoring performance metrics, and performing daily check-ins. The platform integrates data across these agents to refine hiring strategies, identify retention risks through engagement trends, and analyze exit interviews to improve workplace retention, as Bastardas explained.
Positioned against competitors like Paradox (AI recruiting) and WorkJam (frontline management), Orbio distinguishes itself by targeting industries traditionally dependent on outdated tools like spreadsheets and phone-based workflows.
With $26 million in total funding raised—including contributions from Visionaries and 2100 Ventures—Orbio plans to expand its AI agent development team. Bastardas emphasized the platform’s transformative potential for the 2.7 billion frontline workers globally. “This is their AI moment,” he said, highlighting the opportunity to empower workers often excluded from corporate systems.
The raised capital will accelerate Orbio’s mission to automate frontline operations, enabling businesses to combine human oversight with AI-driven efficiency. The platform’s evolution from pilot deployments to full-scale implementation underscores its feasibility in high-stakes industries like healthcare and logistics.
