Orbio Appoints Early Investor Isabella Yamamoto to Lead Global Expansion Push

Orbio appointed early investor Isabella Yamamoto to lead its global expansion, moving her from board oversight into a full-time operational role. Startup Researcher reported the appointment on October 21, 2026. Yamamoto will continue as a venture partner at Visionaries while taking on her full-time responsibilities at Orbio.

Yamamoto's Move From Investor to Operator

Yamamoto worked with co-founder and CEO Sergi Bastardas on Orbio's initial concept before the company formally launched. After joining venture capital firm Visionaries in 2023, she identified the opportunity and led Orbio's pre-seed and seed financing rounds. She subsequently served on the company's board.

Her appointment formalizes a transition from investor oversight to direct involvement in Orbio's next phase of growth. The company is concentrating on expanding its operations across the United States, Europe, and Asia, where it reports increasing interest in its services.

Yamamoto described frontline employment as a difficult area for conventional software because of high worker turnover, multilingual teams, and the volume of conversations involved. She argued that advances in language models create opportunities to address those operational challenges through automated, conversational systems.

Johann Butting Succeeds Yamamoto on the Board

Johann Butting, a partner at Visionaries and former senior vice president of sales at Slack, will succeed Yamamoto on Orbio's board. Butting joined Slack during its early expansion and contributed to the company's growth to $2 billion in annual recurring revenue. Earlier in his career, he served as head of EMEA at Dropbox during its growth to $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.

Orbio's Funding and US Expansion

Orbio closed a $21 million Series A in June 2026 led by Dawn Capital with participation from Visionaries Club, 2100 Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Enzo Ventures, GPCompas, and Plus Partners, according to akta.pro company records. The same records put total funding at approximately $26.1 million. Orbio expanded commercial operations into the United States in June 2026, with The Stepping Stones Group running its full US operation through Orbio with 20%+ more candidates progressing to hire.

Earlier Orbio Leadership and Product Moves

In July 2026, Orbio AI appointed Elen Gabrielyan as its founding product manager, AIM Group reported. She previously served as product manager for AI at Adyen, a fintech company. In June 2026, Dawn Capital wrote that Orbio's AI agents automate frontline hiring and retention, reducing staffing agency margins below 20%, and that early customers cut recruiting teams by 22% to 15 FTEs and lowered churn by 20% after Orbio rewrote screening criteria.

Orbio develops AI agents that support employers with recruitment, onboarding, and employee retention for frontline roles. According to the company, its platform serves enterprise customers in more than 30 markets and supports interactions in over 60 languages. Orbio also reports that its AI agents have conducted more than 12 million candidate interviews since its launch, which took place a little over a year ago.