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Migrant workers are acritical labor forcefor U.S. farms , but induce them here on proper H-2A visa can be complicated , and the compliancy surrounding these employees is assess for farm . Seso was founded five years ago to help streamline that appendage and now looks to expand into a one - stop - shop 60 minutes platform for the agribusiness industry .
Michael Guirguis co - founded the startup after his cousin-german call for for his advice on whether her organic farm should amplify . Despite demand for her harvesting , Guirguis , whose entire vocation has involved Book of Job creation and the labor marketplace , severalise her expanding would n’t be fresh because the manufacture ’s confinement shortage would make employ enough workers severely . That cheer Guirguis to observe Seso to automatise the H-2A visa process to help oneself fix that outlet and help farm continue compliant . Once he started tattle to potential farm customers , he clear that farms could employ a wad more help with their hour beyond just discover workers .
“ When it comes to the back office , every farm we visited had K of filing cabinets , ” Guirguis said . “ It ’s one of the most laggard industries in the U.S. That was the eye - opening moment . We can address the labor dearth and build an remnant - to - end modern operating system starting with HR and modernize a lot of these really complex tasks . ”
The startup just raised $ 26 million to flesh out its platform ’s capabilities . The Series B unit of ammunition was lead by Bond ’s Mary Meeker with participation from Index Ventures , NFX , SV Angel , several Seso customers , and others . The company duplicate its client base in 2023 and work with 27 of the largest 100 agriculture employer in the U.S.
While factory farm is a monumental industriousness ripe for dislocation , it ’s been relatively reticent to adopt new engineering , he said . Guirguis cogitate Seso has been successful in sell to farms so far , when many other startups have n’t been , because Seso is n’t trying to change the actual farming process , something Farmer made clear to him that they were n’t quick for yet . Adopting back office tech is an easier sell .
“ Your HR squad is in the back federal agency doing traditional 60 minutes oeuvre , ” Guirguis said . “ That is who we are prove to deepen demeanor for , which is promiscuous than for someone 50 class in the theatre still using pen and newspaper publisher . They can still keep doing their process we have built products to adapt . you may take a picture of a [ handwritten ] time sheet and then use AI to ensure that is precise . ”
Guirguis ’s focus on dumbfound feedback from sodbuster flat is what pushed Nina Achadjian , a partner at Index Ventures , to invest . Achadjian ab initio passed on Seso when it first tried to raise from Index , but how the society sells and interact with farmers changed her thinker .
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“ I remember this one customer call , I got chill , ” Achadjian told TechCrunch . “ [ He enjoin ] , ‘ I get pitched by these Silicon Valley entrepreneurs all the time and they show up at your farm and they are like , ‘ Here is how you should extend their business . ’ I always ask each of them to come and spend a twenty-four hour period and work alongside me so they can understand what is a day in the life of the end customer and they never show up . Michael was the only one who showed up at 4 a.m. in the freezing common cold , in the dark , to pick globe artichoke . ’ ”
That feedback from Fannie Merritt Farmer is why the party is expanding into automating payroll next . Guirguis said due to various factory farm employment Pentateuch , farm payroll is unbelievably complicated . proletarian are paid for how much harvest they clean , Guirguis say , and the pace for each harvest pick is dissimilar for a migrant prole versus a domesticated actor and different again if migrant workers and domesticated workers are pick from the same field . Guirguis sees legion ways to expand after that .
