Building on the success of its first fund, future of work-focused VC firm Acadian Ventures has closed Fund II.
The $30 million oversubscribed fund is supported by HR tech giant ServiceNow.
In this exclusive piece, UNLEASH digs into the investments so far, and what Acadian Ventures has planned for 2024 and beyond!
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Acadian Ventures, an early stage VC firm specializing the future of work, has just closed its second fund.
Supported by ServiceNow Ventures and Connecticut Innovations, Acadian Venture’s Fund II was oversubscribed at $30 million.
This makes the second fund almost triple the size of the VC firm’s highly successful Fund I, which achieved top decile performance and helped the firm’s total fund value increase by 23.9% in 2022.
2022 was a big year for Acadian – it made 14 investments (noteworthy examples include TechWolf, Oyster, Nomi Health and SmartRecruiters).
But 2024 is also looking exciting; the VC firm has already made 12 investments in the future of work space through Fund II, and up to 18 more are anticipated.
Talking exclusively to UNLEASH, Jason Corsello, founder and general partner at Acadian Ventures, shares that Figures, AG5, Superthread and Workpay are some Fund II investments – with follow-on investments for BrioHr and Compa.
Corsello tells UNLEASH: “We expect to invest in approximately 30 companies in this fund. Europe is and will continue to be a big focus geographically for our fund.”
He is excited to work with ServiceNow on Fund II: “Last year, ServiceNow announced a $1 billion commitment to ServiceNow Ventures, their global strategic investment arm.
ServiceNow has a big focus on enhanced employee experiences and their strategy is well aligned with Acadian Ventures’ thesis to invest in the next generation of work technologies.”
Talking about the partnership, ServiceNow’s senior vice-president of corporate business development Philip Kirk commented: “We are excited to partner with Acadian Ventures to support investment in the next generation of work technologies that are drastically improving the employee experience.
“The firm’s strategy to focus on maximizing human potential aligns well with our ServiceNow Ventures strategy to foster innovation in companies and market at the leading edge of digital transformation.”
A bright future for Acadian Ventures
With the closing of its second fund, Acadian Ventures remains focused on investing in innovative companies committed to transforming the future of work.
This builds on Corsello’s expertise as a former Cornerstone senior vice-president, and his fellow general partner Thomas Otter’s experience at Gartner, SAP SuccessFactors and his own HR tech advisory firm.
In an exclusive UNLEASH interview, Corsello shares: “Going into 2024, we are focused on four core themes: Intelligent work applications (i,e, AI), work infrastructure (i.e. data and APIs), new regulatory and compliance, and the emerging global workforce.
These emergent areas in technology will create opportunities for new ways to manage work, creating new market categories, and disrupting existing incumbents.”
But Corsello is clear that for Acadian Ventures it is not just about investment – it is also about working with founders to grow their business in the HR space.
“We work very closely with our companies and one of the proudest metrics we track is our founder NPS, [which is] currently at 96%,” he adds.
Stay tuned over the next few years, Acadian Ventures is not stopping at Fund II – a third fund is one the cards in the next few years.
Plus, the VC firm plans to continue to expand its team beyond Corsello, Otter, senior advisors David Clarke and Leighanne Levensaler, and finance and operations lead Ryan McQueeney in 2024 and beyond.
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