Orbio Raises $21M to Transform Frontline Workforce with AI

Jan de Vries · 2026-06-15

Orbio, a Madrid-based AI workforce platform for global enterprises with deskless teams, has announced a $21 million Series A funding round led by Dawn Capital, with existing investors like Visionaries also participating. This brings the company's total funding to over $27 million, following a $7.5 million round in September 2025. ### What This Funding Means for Orbio The new capital will fuel expansion into new markets, grow its customer base among large enterprises, and accelerate development of its AI agent suite across the entire employee lifecycle. The company is betting big on a massive, underserved segment: the 2.7 billion frontline workers who keep essential industries running. "What stands out about Orbio is the speed at which customers have completely rebuilt their operating models around it," said Henry Mason, Partner at Dawn Capital. "In a matter of months, some of the world's largest employers have embraced AI-first frontline workforce management with Orbio at the core, replacing labor budgets in a permanent way." ### Why Frontline Work Needs a Tech Revolution Here's the thing: most enterprise software built over the last twenty years was designed for desk-bound knowledge workers. People with corporate email addresses and regular logins. But frontline employees are different. They're often deskless, reached through messaging apps and phone calls rather than software portals. And that mismatch creates huge problems. - **High turnover:** In many frontline sectors, annual employee turnover exceeds 70%. That means recruiters and operations teams spend most of their time on administrative tasks instead of strategic work. - **Fragmented processes:** Hiring and workforce management still rely on spreadsheets, manual steps, and large operational teams. This costs organizations billions every year. - **Poor onboarding:** Workers often start jobs without proper training, lose touch with employers within days, and leave within weeks. Unfilled shifts directly impact revenue, customer experience, and operational performance. ### How Orbio's AI Agents Work Orbio was founded in 2025 by CEO Sergi Bastardas (who previously co-founded Colvin), CRO Nacho Travesí (co-founder of employee benefits platform Cobee, acquired by Pluxee), and CTO Antonio Melé (co-founder of Nucoro, acquired by Backbase). The company deploys a team of AI agents designed to automate key processes across the frontline employee lifecycle: - **Talent acquisition:** AI agents conduct interviews, assess candidate fit and motivation, and streamline selection. - **Onboarding:** New hires are guided through the onboarding process within hours instead of days. - **Workforce management:** Agents monitor engagement and churn signals, stay in contact with employees throughout their lifecycle, and help reduce turnover. For employers, this means 24/7 support for frontline workforces, with large parts of workforce operations delegated to AI. The result? Faster hiring, lower administrative burden, improved retention, and a more resilient operational workforce. ### The Bigger Picture Sergi Bastardas, co-founder and CEO of Orbio, puts it plainly: "This is not a talent shortage problem, it's a talent allocation problem. The people are there. The work is there. What's been missing is the ability to connect frontline workers with opportunities quickly, consistently, and at scale." With Orbio, candidates can be contacted within seconds. Onboarding can happen in hours rather than days. And employers can stay continuously connected with their workforce. The result is faster hiring, lower attrition, and smoother operations. That's a big win for an industry that's been overlooked for too long.