Acadian Ventures
also invests Β· investor profile6 known investors
Find your way into Acadian Ventures
1,125 people in our graph share verified history with the Acadian Ventures team β schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
Acadian Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the Future of Work, investing in companies such as Nomi Health, Oyster, SmartRecruiters, Degreed, and Utmost. Its team operates between locations including London and New York City.
Also known as Acadian Ventures Management Co LLC
Founders & leadership
.png)
Investors Β· 6
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$30M disclosed across 1 round Β· 2026
- $30MSeries A+Mar 2026 Β· 2 sourcesSource β
Source: company announcements and press reports β follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Acadian Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests globally in companies building what it calls the new architecture of work. The firm organizes its thesis around five investment categories: infrastructure (systems that connect work software into a unified ecosystem), intelligence (analytics and predictive layers built on that data), automation (execution of repetitive workflows), experience (employee- and manager-facing interfaces), and compliance (automated guardrails for legislative and regulatory requirements). It describes itself as a global, seed-stage firm and invests at the earliest stages of company formation.
The firm was founded in 2019 by Jason Corsello, who previously served as SVP of Strategy and Corporate Development at Cornerstone OnDemand and at Appirio/Wipro, and earlier as a research director at Yankee Group. Thomas Otter joined as General Partner in March 2022, having previously run Otter Advisory and led product management at SAP SuccessFactors; he was also a limited partner in Acadian's first fund. Audrey Handem, previously an investor at Speedinvest, joined as Principal and is based between London and New York City. Former Workday CTO David Clarke serves as a senior advisor, and Ryan McQueeney leads finance and operations as CFO.
Acadian has managed multiple funds, with Fund I closing in April 2020, Fund II in January 2024, and Fund III opening in September 2025. Beyond capital, the firm runs community and content programs including an annual Acadian Ventures Summit, a "Future of Work 100" list, and the "Work in Progress" publication and Substack newsletter.
Founding story
The firm was founded in 2019 by Jason Corsello, who brought roughly two decades of experience in the human capital management market as an industry analyst, management consultant and operating executive, including executive strategy and corporate development roles at Cornerstone OnDemand and Appirio (later Wipro).
Business model
Acadian Ventures operates as a venture capital fund manager, raising discrete funds (Fund I, Fund II, Fund III) from limited partners and deploying capital into early-stage Future of Work companies, with follow-on participation in later rounds of existing portfolio companies such as Origin, Kombo, and Palette.
Traction
The firm has raised and closed at least two funds with a third in market, and maintains a portfolio of roughly several dozen companies including Findem, Origin, TechWolf, SmartRecruiters, Oyster, Nomi Health, Degreed, Compa, Kombo, AG5, Arist, Beeline, BrioHR, Copyleaks, Figures, Jolly, Linc, Match2, Workpay and Worky, with exits recorded for Assembly, Autumn AI, Getro, Jobpal, Mighty Labs and SmartRecruiters. Portfolio milestones in 2026 included Compa's $35M Series B, Kombo's $25M Series A, Origin's Series A+ bringing its total funding above $50M, and Vcola's $6.4M seed round.
Latest developments
In the second quarter of 2026 Acadian completed a new investment in Vcola (participating in a $6.4M seed round alongside Base10 Partners, Frontline Ventures and Booom) and a follow-on in Palette, and announced its first-quarter investment in Linc, a France-focused AI-native payroll engine. The firm hosted the Acadian Ventures Summit 2026 over two days in San Diego, drawing more than 150 participants, and scheduled its next summit for May 19-20, 2026 per its website listing.
βΈFull profile β market position, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Acadian Ventures positions itself as a specialist Future of Work investor operating globally rather than a generalist fund, and has been recognized as one of America's top venture capital firms. Public directory listings describe it as a pre-seed and seed investor with an average check size of about $500,000 that does not typically lead rounds.
Differentiation rests on deep human capital management domain expertise among its partners β prior operating and research roles at Cornerstone OnDemand, SAP SuccessFactors, Gartner, Yankee Group, Appirio and Workday β combined with a structured five-category framework for the work technology stack and a community program of summits, rankings and written research.
Go-to-market
Acadian sources and supports deals through direct founder relationships, a public newsletter and Substack, an annual invitation-style summit for operators, investors and builders, and published research such as the Future of Work 100 list.
The firm's investment targets are founders and companies building work-related technology, spanning HR tech, SaaS, AI, and education, at pre-seed and seed stage; its limited partners are the source of fund capital.
Geography
The firm invests globally, with stated coverage of the USA, Europe, Canada, Israel, Asia-Pacific, India, LatAm, Africa, ANZ and MENA. Team members are distributed: Thomas Otter is based in Heidelberg, Germany; Audrey Handem works between London and New York City; directory listings cite a US office at 17 Wall Street #4, Madison, Connecticut, and describe the firm as based in the USA and Germany. Portfolio companies are located across the US, UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Malaysia, Canada and Kenya-facing markets.
History
Founded in 2019, Acadian Ventures closed its first fund in April 2020. Thomas Otter, previously an Acadian Fund I limited partner and formerly of SAP SuccessFactors and Gartner, joined as General Partner in March 2022. Fund II closed in January 2024 and Fund III was in market as of September 2025. Audrey Handem joined the investment team as Principal, and the firm was recognized among America's top venture capital firms. In the first half of 2026 the firm hosted its two-day Summit in San Diego with more than 150 attendees and announced investments in Linc and Vcola plus a follow-on in Palette.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 13
launches, deals, and filingsAcadian Ventures announced a new investment in Linc, a seed-stage AI-native payroll engine for payroll experts in France; the round included existing investors Headline and Resonance alongside Founders Future and other investors and angels.
Acadian Ventures participated in Vcola's $6.4M seed round alongside Base10 Partners, Frontline Ventures, Booom and angel investors.
$6.4M source β
The firm hosted its annual summit over two days in San Diego with more than 150 operators, investors and builders; the website lists the event dates as May 19-20, 2026.
Origin Benefits raised a Series A+ round led by Notion Capital with continued support from Acadian Ventures and Felix Capital, bringing Origin's total funding above $50M.
Kombo raised a $25M Series A led by Volition Capital with continued support from Acadian Ventures, 468 Capital and Y Combinator.
$25M source β
Compa, an AI-driven compensation intelligence provider in the Acadian portfolio, raised a $35M Series B led by Jump Capital.
$35M source β
Acadian Ventures announced it was honored as one of America's top venture capital firms.
Audrey Handem joined the Acadian Ventures investment team as Principal, based between London and New York City, after serving as a first-check investor at Speedinvest.
Acadian Ventures completed a follow-on investment in Palette during the second quarter of 2026.
Directory listing records Acadian Ventures Fund III as a fund in market with an open date of September 2025.
Directory listing records Acadian Ventures Fund II with a close date of January 2024.
Thomas Otter, previously founder of Otter Advisory and formerly head of product management at SAP SuccessFactors and research VP at Gartner, joined Acadian Ventures as General Partner. He had also been a limited partner in Acadian's first fund.
Directory listing records Acadian Ventures Fund I with a close date of April 2020.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
Trysignalbasetrysignalbase.com Β· Aug 2026βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- Acadian Venturesacadianventures.com Β· web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Acadian Ventures do?
- Acadian Ventures is a global pre-seed and seed venture capital firm investing in Future of Work technology companies.
- Who founded Acadian Ventures?
- Acadian Ventures was founded by Jason Corsello, Thomas Otter.
- Who are Acadian Ventures's investors?
- Acadian Ventures's investors include Connecticut Innovations, Peak, Emblem, FELIX CAPITAL, Notion Capital, Ugly Duckling Ventures.
- How much funding has Acadian Ventures raised?
- Acadian Ventures has disclosed $30M raised across 1 round.