About Us
We’ve been building retail operations systems for multi-branch brands since 2019. This is the team that does it.
Founder
Michel J. Hodge
Michel started Umbra in 2019 with a simple premise: most software built for scaling businesses is built by people who have never run one. The tools look right on a demo and fall apart in the field.
Umbra was built the other way around - starting with the operation, understanding exactly what breaks as a business grows across locations and teams, and then building the system that fits. That approach hasn't changed. Every engagement still starts with Michel or a senior member of the team sitting down with your people before anything is designed or priced.
Today Umbra builds and runs the systems behind multi-branch retail brands across the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The team is 40 strong, based in Manila, and the work is still done in-house.
The team
40 developers, designers, and operations specialists - all in-house, all based in Manila. No outsourcing, no subcontracting. When you work with Umbra, the people who show up to the first meeting are the people who build the thing.
We’ve been doing this since 2019. The problems we solve are operational - multi-location inventory, data visibility, platform integration, custom systems that don’t exist off the shelf. The clients who stay with us longest are the ones who treat us as a partner in the operation, not a vendor on a contract.
Built for hard problems
Multi-location retail across three countries. Seven brands on one backbone. Complex is where we do our best work.
Partners
Complex operation? Let's make it simpler.
Tell us what's getting harder to manage. We'll start there.