Seso, a workforce management platform tailored for the agricultural industry, just completed a $26 million Series B funding round. The funding round was led by BOND and saw participation from Index Ventures, NFX, SV Angel, and other investors, including some of Seso's own customers. This new influx of capital marks a pivotal moment for Seso as it seeks to expand its platform's capabilities and address the unique challenges agribusiness employers and farm workers face.
The company plans to use the funds to introduce several new features to its platform. Among these enhancements are an AI-enabled payroll solution designed to streamline the payment process, a banking and remittance solution catered to farm workers' financial needs, and a comprehensive HR platform built to assist agribusiness employers in managing their workforce more efficiently. These additions aim to provide farmers with an all-encompassing solution to scale operations, meet seasonal demands, and move away from traditional paper-based management methods.
Michael Guirguis, Co-Founder and CEO of Seso, highlighted the critical issue of labor shortages in the agricultural sector and Seso's commitment to addressing it. "Labor is a significant concern for farmers across America," Guirguis said. "Our goal is to create the industry's first digital system for farms to efficiently hire and manage a seasonal workforce, ensuring compliance with government regulations."
The agricultural sector in the U.S. has been grappling with labor shortages for several years, leading many farms to rely on the H-2A visa program to fulfill their seasonal labor needs. This program allows farms to employ experienced agricultural workers from abroad, offering migrant workers the chance to earn significantly higher wages than in their home countries. However, the complexity of the H-2A visa application process has been a considerable hurdle for many farms, with a reported 72% experiencing delays in worker arrivals due to application issues. By digitizing and simplifying the visa application process, Seso aims to mitigate these delays and improve efficiency for both workers and employers.
Mary Meeker, General Partner at BOND, expressed enthusiasm about partnering with Seso, acknowledging the platform's potential to significantly impact the agricultural industry. "Seso's digital approach to solving labor shortages is a step forward for the agricultural sector," Meeker noted. We're excited to support their mission to aid farm workers and provide innovative business software solutions for agricultural employers."
Since its inception in 2021, Seso's software platform has gained considerable traction among farms in the United States, including 27 of the industry's 100 largest employers. The platform has facilitated seasonal employment for over 88,000 workers in the last year. With the expansion into full-stack HR solutions and the integration of AI, Seso is at the forefront of modernizing agricultural labor management, promising significant time savings and operational efficiencies for farms across the US.
Jordan Taylor, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Seso, emphasized the platform's user-friendly design and the transformative potential of AI. "We're committed to building the most comprehensive yet straightforward HR system for agriculture," Taylor stated. "With the use of generative AI, we're looking to reduce tasks that previously took hours to just minutes, streamlining payroll processes and eliminating the need for manual data entry."
This latest funding round is a testament to Seso's innovative approach to addressing the agricultural sector's longstanding challenges, positioning the company to continue its growth and expand its impact on how farms manage their workforce.