After a torrid 2021, global venture capital started to show its first signs of a slowdown after many years of growth. Overall, global venture funding in Q1 2022 was down 19%, reflecting broad-based concerns of inflation, rising rates, and global political uncertainty.
While the broader venture capital markets have witnessed a significant slowdown, Future of Work investment continues to accelerate. In Q1 2022, venture capital investment in the Future of Work exceeded $4.2 billion, a year-over-year increase of 53%. We recently shared some thoughts on the boom in HR Tech with Morning Brew. More details on the current state of venture capital below 👇.
As an early-stage venture firm, we have continued to invest through a tepid market environment. In Q1 2022, we completed two unannounced investments. We also shared an update on our firm's performance since launching in 2019. Q2 is shaping up to be a very busy quarter and we look forward to sharing new and follow-on investments shortly.
🚀Same Mission, Bigger Mission, New Opportunity
Last month, we shared an update on our firm including our progress to date, our key performance metrics, and the realization of some investments. It's been an exciting 3 years since launching Acadian Ventures in 2019. We are inspired with some early successes, but realize also early-stage venture is a long journey. Read more about our story here.
👋 Welcome Thomas Otter!
We are excited to welcome Thomas Otter as our newest General Partner. Thomas has been an extension to our fund as a limited partner and we have been working more closely in the past few months to A/B test a new partnership model. This is a huge addition for our firm and allows us greater coverage as a global firm. Thomas is based in Germany and gives us broader exposure to the global startup market across Europe and beyond.
We are pleased to share one of our most recent, unannounced investments in Worky. Worky is an all-in-one HR software and payroll platform for Latin America. Through Worky, a company can automate employee files, PTO management, recruiting, performance reviews, training, payroll, employee benefits, and more. Worky is based in Mexico City and founded by Maya Dadoo (CEO), Carlos Marina (COO), and Oscar Barron (CTO). Worky is our first LATAM investment and we are excited to partner with QED Investors and LEAP Global Partners. You can learn more about Worky and the excitement in Mexico's HR Tech Market here.
💪🏼 Introducing Spotlyfe
We are thrilled to announce that Acadian Ventures led a $1.0m pre-seed investment in SPOTLYFE. The company is building a game-changing product that integrates work, life and wellness. What does that mean, you ask? It’s about being intentional about how employees manage the daily struggles of their work priorities, their life aspirations, and their own well-being that allows them to accomplish them all. Read more about why we invested and watch their video to learn more.
📣 Portfolio Company Updates
We are excited to share recent coverage of our portfolio companies over the last quarter....
SmartRecruiters Founder and CEO Jerome Ternynck joins Emily Chang to discuss how their employees at their Krakow, Poland, office are helping Ukrainian refugees get to safety, and how their platform is partnering with clients to help them find jobs and rebuild their lives.
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🔥 Venture Capital & the Future of Work in 2022
In Q1 2022, venture capital investment in the Future of Work increased 54% from Q1 2021. There was over $4.2 billion of VC investment in the quarter across 100 deals. We are starting to see a shift in venture capital dollars being deployed towards earlier stage investments. 77% of deals in the quarter were either seed or early stage (Series A-B).
Interestingly, 54% of VC investments (deals) were outside of the US. This was the first quarter where non-US investments outpaced US investments. We expect this trend to continue as global startup ecosystems continue to grow. Of the five new unicorns in the quarter -- Miro, PayFit, Handshake, Employment Hero and Staffbase -- three of them were based outside of the US.
Acadian Ventures is a venture capital firm based along the Northeast corridor between Boston and New York. We invest in early-stage technology companies inventing the NEW Future of Work. We bring an operator mindset — along with our energy, network, and capital — to our founders at the earliest days of their entrepreneurial journey.
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