Orbio, a startup focused on hiring automation, has raised $21 million from investors, TechCrunch reports. The company is building software to handle recruitment and onboarding for workers in retail, logistics, hospitality, manufacturing, and delivery services.

Most hiring software on the market was designed for office jobs — the kind where candidates have email addresses, hiring takes weeks or months, and paperwork can be handled remotely. Retail and logistics hiring works completely differently. Companies need to hire people in days or hours. These workers turn over constantly, sometimes with annual turnover rates above 100 percent. And onboarding has to happen in person, at the store or warehouse, often without the worker having a laptop.

Orbio is building software that handles the entire hiring process for these workers: finding candidates, screening applications, scheduling interviews, making offers, and getting them ready for their first shift. The software is designed to work on phones and to handle many applications at once.

Investor Dawn Capital led this funding round. The firm typically invests in software for large businesses and sees potential in updating older systems that bigger software companies have overlooked. A $21 million investment at this stage signals that the firm believes Orbio can grow into a profitable business.

Other companies are working on similar problems. Fountain, Workstream, and Jobget have all built tools for high-volume hiring. What usually wins in this space depends on two things: first, whether the software connects smoothly to payroll and scheduling systems already in use at stores and warehouses. Second, whether it reaches workers where they actually are — many frontline workers rarely check email, but most have text messages and messaging apps like WhatsApp.

The onboarding piece — getting a new worker legally approved and safely trained before their first shift — is genuinely hard to automate. A new hire needs paperwork checked, identity verified, role-specific safety training completed, and equipment assigned, all before they start. Doing this with software without mistakes is complex. Companies that get it right tend to keep using that software for years, because switching systems mid-operation is disruptive and costly.

With this funding, Orbio can expand its product and its sales team. The real work ahead involves convincing large retail and logistics companies to use it across many locations and proving the software actually works well enough that those companies stay with it.

Retail and warehouse workers make up a huge portion of the global workforce, yet most software companies have ignored their needs for decades. That is changing. Companies know that even speeding up hiring by a few days saves real money in labor costs. When the savings add up across hundreds of locations, executives pay attention — and that is usually when a tool used by one department becomes a system used across an entire company.