While working on MBA at Harvard Business School, Colombian immigrants Stephanie Murra AND Lorenza Vélez He noticed that almost all employees in the cafe were Latin. In conversations with them, a common topic appears: how difficult it was that folks who legally moved to the US from Spanish -speaking countries to find their first work in the United States. Not talking in English well or at all, which is not surprising, was the biggest challenge.
“But then we glance at the messages and seeing that the US is actually in the face of an unprecedented Shortage of workforceEspecially in the case of such positions in which you normally saw low-qualified immigrant employees, “said Murra in an interview with TechCrunch.” So we said, “OK, there is definitely a problem here.”
The roommates began to conduct research and realized that many potential employers would use traditional work boards, similar to indeed, which “is not intended for Latin immigrants,” said Murra.
“These employees, many of whom do not speak English and are not really good with technology, are accustomed to finding work by friends,” she explained. In addition, they are often confused by online applications and is intimidated by the idea that somebody is interviewing in English.
Idea Ponte Lab He was born. The duo-who previously worked for two years in the Colombian Fintech Addi-founded company with Miami in April 2023 during the last semester at Harvard.
“Employers in the field of hotel, construction, retail and other industries with a blue collar really have difficulty filling in hourly roles, while millions of working Latin immigrants are trying to find stable work due to language and cultural barriers,” said Vélez.
“We know where to find employees, speak their language and communicate with them through the preferred channel, WhatsApp. So we built a ponte to fill this gap,” added Vélez.
The founders claim that their recruitment platform, matches, adapts and authorized the hourly employees “faster and more efficiently than traditional methods”.
Employees are employed directly by employers, not by staff agencies, which, they say, not only saves employers’ money, but gives them a greater pool of potential employees to select from. On the other hand, “employees gain access to amazing work opportunities that are difficult for them to get differently,” added Vélez.
Ponte cooperates only with documented immigrants: each candidate is pre -overtaken to authorize legal work before reaching the employer.
The startup built an internal AI recruiter, which initially visits the candidates via WhatsApp and AI interviews based on the voice. For now, it is focused only on the hotel industry, but plans to expand to other sectors, similar to construction or care for the elderly in the future.
Rapid growth
Ponte has been continuously growing since Murra and Vélez formally launched the platform in November 2023, on board over 60,000 candidates and placing almost 800 employees on the roles of hospitality. Annual net revenues increased from USD 70,000 in February 2024 to USD 550,000 today. This is not yet profitable, but the couple claim that they work with large margins of the contribution, so their model is more scalable. So far they say they have burned lower than $ 1 million.
Today, Ponte cooperates with 14 employers using a platform for employing employees, similar to Omni Hotels & Resorts, in addition to large hotel management corporations similar to Pyramid Global, Peachtree Hotel Group and Atrium Hospitality.
The startup recently raised the round for $ 3 million led by Harlem Capital with a valuation of $ 15 million, said only TechCrunch. Better Tomorrow Ventures, 81 Collection and Wischoff Ventures also participated in financing. Ponte previously collected one other $ 1.5 million in combination with Better Tomorrow Ventures “The Mint Accelerator, fast competition NFX and collection 81.
The company’s revenue model is based on success. Ponte fees of a monthly fee of 10% of the worker’s monthly salary for a period of up to 12 months. Because it is a high -speed industry, if the worker leaves inside the first month, the hotel pays nothing.
Currently, the startup has 15 full -time employees.
Since social media and Ponte recruitment channels are in Spanish, over 95% of his candidates are Latin immigrants, Murr noted. In addition to using WhatsApp, he also places promoting on Facebook and Instagram.
“This focus has helped us build deep trust in the community and adapt our approach to their specific needs,” she said. “But we are building tools that are agnostic language and can be easily adapted to service in other immigrant communities, including Portuguese -speaking Brazilians in the future.”
And, she added, the startup even supported native English users who found Ponte, who was named after the word Portuguese, which suggests “bridge”.
Looking to the future, the founders claim that the goal of Ponte is “creating a place where Latin immigrants in the US help in achieving their professional goals.”
“So it not only helps them find a basic job. We also want to help them develop these works,” said Vélez. “We see one of the greatest opportunities to help candidates in learning English, because there they got stuck between where they are now and the promotion for the next work.”
Henri Pierre-Jacques, managing partner of Harlem Capital, said he was following the founders from the preliminary time of Ponte seeds.
“I loved that Lorenza and Stephanie were former colleagues in ADDI … and then roommates in HBS together before the Ponte start,” said Techcrunch. “We received very positive references from customers who were delighted with their product. They managed to see strong adhesion in a short time. It was obvious that Stephanie and Lorenza could do a lot with very little.”
Pierre-Jacques also believes that the concentration of Ponte in Latin hotel employees is a “huge distinguishing feature.”
Indeed, Latinos they constitute almost halfThat is 47.6%, a working force born abroad in 2023 in the USA, according to the US Labor Department.
“Thanks to the talents market, we always think about how our founders manage the delivery page,” he said. “We saw the power of WhatsApp in this community, and Stephanie and Lorenz understood that the integration of recruitment flow through WhatsApp was the best channel to find their employees.”