Factorial completes the leap to AI for companies with a new personal agent
The Catalan company expects to close 2026 with a 35% growth in its workforce
BarcelonaFactorial, the Catalan company specializing in business management software, which is among the scale-ups most valuable in Europe, has completed its leap into artificial intelligence with the launch of One, an AI agent for companies dedicated to "connecting information and automating work".
"All the work that can be done with an agent can be done by One", highlighted the CEO of the Barcelona-based tech company, Jordi Romero, in a meeting with journalists prior to the launch. The launch comes just weeks after the acquisition of Empion, a German startup dedicated to talent management with artificial intelligence.
According to Romero, the commitment to an AI agent that accompanies the employees of Factorial's clients comes in response to the appetite of European companies for the technology. Companies on the continent "are curious about using artificial intelligence, but also insecure". Faced with this interest, Factorial proposes a solution "capable not only of understanding an organization's information but also of acting on it and executing tasks".
The CEO highlighted the "prudence" of the private sector in ensuring that any application they integrate into the company is in compliance with community regulations. In this sense, One has been developed by the tech company itself, based on a combination of Microsoft models, and provides "good answers" to regulations such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Artificial Intelligence Act.
Substantial growth
The company's bet on AI comes a few months after its last Series D funding round, with which it raised 150 million dollars. This investment raised Factorial's value to 2.5 billion dollars and placed the tech company among the most highly valued in Europe.
The increase in valuation has been accompanied by growth in activity: the Catalan company already registers 17,000 business clients, which add up to more than 1.3 million users. It expects to close the year with a staff of about 1,900 employees, 35% more than the previous year. This growth has been mostly organic, although lately the company has accelerated its acquisition strategy, with the operations of Empion itself and the Galician firm YepCode. Romero, in this sense, has assured that Factorial is "very active in exploring acquisitions" in several European markets, mainly the Spanish state, France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal.
One of the great growth focuses of the Barcelona-based tech company has been Germany. Apart from the acquisition of Empion, Factorial has recently opened a corporate office in Munich, mostly dedicated to commercial tasks. The German market, as detailed by the company, is growing "at more than 100% year-on-year", and more than 1,700 companies in the country already use its services.
Romero explains the penetration into the German ecosystem due to the high professionalization and growth trend of local small and medium-sized enterprises, "very well-managed, durable, and profitable in the long term". A trend that is not replicated in the Spanish state, where there is "much more polarization between SMEs and large companies".