Seso

Seso, Inc. is a vertical software company for agriculture that helps farm employers hire, manage, pay, and retain seasonal and domestic workforces. Its product set spans compliant digital onboarding for H-2A and domestic workers (including I-9, W-4 and custom hiring packets, with a direct integration to e-verify.gov that automates creation and submission of E-Verify cases), an HR platform built for agriculture that consolidates employee data and operations, and H-2A filing and compliance software paired with legal resources and services. The platform tracks contracts, assigned workers, recruitment, housing, transportation, reimbursements and document completeness, and can generate audit files for government inspections.

The company automates the H-2A guest worker visa process and positions itself as a digital system of record connecting growers and workers, addressing farm labor shortages in the United States. Alongside employer-facing software, Seso runs a worker-facing program that recruits and vets seasonal workers in Mexico and elsewhere, screening registrations on experience, skill set, geography and honesty, and stating that recruitment is always free for workers with a reporting channel for anyone solicited for prohibited fees. Following its 2024 Series B, Seso said it would expand into AI-enabled payroll, a banking and remittance solution for farm workers, and a broader HR platform for agribusiness employers.

Founding story

The company originated from co-founder Michael Guirguis's experience reviewing the finances of Oya Organics, an organic farm in Hollister, California run by his cousin Marsha Habib, over Thanksgiving 2018; labor cost and availability emerged as the constraint on the business. A reference to a "farm visa" led him to the H-2A program, an uncapped guest worker visa that had grown 300% over the prior decade but remained hard to access. Guirguis teamed with co-founder Jordan Taylor, who grew up farming and had been a product leader at Farmers Business Network, to start Seso.

Business model

Seso sells software and accompanying services to agricultural employers, combining an ag-specific HR and onboarding platform with H-2A filing, compliance and legal support, and worker recruiting and vetting operations. Workers are not charged for recruitment.

Traction

Seso reports customers in all 50 states, including 35 of the top 100 U.S. ag employers; as of April 2024 it cited hundreds of farms using the platform, 27 of the 100 largest industry employers, and more than 88,000 workers signed up for seasonal jobs in the prior year. The company also cites an 86% reduction in onboarding time and automation of over 70% of administrative tasks for customers.

Latest developments

In April 2024 Seso closed a $26M Series B led by BOND with participation from Index Ventures, NFX and SV Angel, earmarked for AI-enabled payroll, a banking and remittance product for farm workers, and an expanded HR platform. The company is publishing guidance on the 2026-2027 Adverse Effect Wage Rates and is hiring across the team.