A Madrid-based startup that deploys AI agents to automate hourly worker recruitment has closed a $21 million Series A, bringing its total raised to $28.6 million since inception. Orbio AI, which announced the round Saturday, landed backing from Dawn Capital alongside Visionaries Club, 2100 Ventures, Plus Partners, Enzo Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst.
The company's pitch centers on a workforce largely overlooked by enterprise software: the 2.7 billion frontline employees in retail, hospitality and service sectors who rarely sit at desks. Orbio's product consists of named AI agents that handle distinct tasks across the hiring lifecycle. Maria recruits. Daniel onboards. Clare handles engagement. Joy coordinates schedules. All four communicate through phone calls, SMS, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams, plugging into familiar HR systems like Workday, SAP SuccessFactors and Greenhouse.
The founding team arrived with exits already on their resumes. CEO Sergi Bastardas spent time at Amazon during its early Spanish retail expansion and later co-founded Colvin, a flower e-commerce venture. Chief Revenue Officer Nacho Travesí co-founded Cobee, a benefits platform. CTO Antonio Melé built and sold Nucoro to Backbase, where he remained in a leadership role.
Orbio lists a client roster that includes AT&T, Burger King, Popeyes, Tim Hortons, Adecco, YUM! Brands and The Stepping Stones Group, according to its website and reporting by TechCrunch. The company claims it now processes more than one million conversations monthly across over 40 countries in upwards of 35 languages. Among the results it highlights: a retail customer that reduced open vacancies by roughly 60 percent in a single quarter, and a security firm that trimmed time-to-hire to under a week.
The startup declined to share its post-money valuation. Speaking to Spanish business daily Cinco Días, Orbio said the fresh capital will fund expansion of operational hubs and development of its agent ecosystem. Employee count appears substantial for a company at this stage, though exact figures remain unclear.
Orbio faces competition from Paradox, which offers recruiting automation software, and WorkJam, a frontline workforce management platform. The company's bet is that most AI tooling has been built for knowledge workers, leaving a massive underserved market hungry for automation that works the way hourly employees actually communicate.
"What stands out about Orbio is the speed at which customers have completely rebuilt their operating models around it," Henry Mason, a partner at Dawn Capital, told EU-Startups. Bastardas, meanwhile, frames the product as a self-improving system. "Each agent generates data that feeds back into the others," he explained to TechCrunch. "Onboarding signals inform recruiting quality; exit interviews reveal why employees leave."
The Series A follows a €6.5 million seed round that Visionaries Club led in September of last year. The early traction suggests enterprises are willing to experiment with AI that operates outside the inbox, though scaling across industries with vastly different labor dynamics will test the platform's adaptability.
