Acadian Ventures

Acadian Ventures

Acadian Ventures was founded by Jason Corsello, who spent two decades analyzing and operating within the human capital management industry before launching the firm. Corsello served as SVP of Strategy and Corporate Development at Cornerstone OnDemand during its growth from $50M to over $500M in revenue, then transitioned to venture investing with a thesis rooted in the systems that power modern employment — payroll, compliance, talent intelligence, and workforce experience. The firm concentrates on early-stage companies across the future-of-work spectrum, spanning infrastructure, intelligence, automation, experience, and compliance technologies. Confirmed portfolio positions include Oyster, a global employment platform; Nomi Health, a direct healthcare payments network; Degreed, a workforce upskilling tool; and SmartRecruiters, a talent acquisition suite. Geographically, Acadian is anchored in the United States but partners with founders building globally distributed work products, with team members operating between London and New York City. Thomas Otter joined as General Partner in March 2022, bringing sourcing reach across Europe after leading product at SAP SuccessFactors to over $1B in annual recurring revenue and advising private equity firms on HR tech due diligence. The firm recently added Audrey Handem to the investment team, a former Speedinvest investor specializing in AI and workflow tools. Acadian's latest publicly noted events include its 2026 Summit and follow-on activity in Kombo's $25M Series A and Compa's $35M Series B (per the firm, 2026). The firm operates with a hybrid operator-investor model atypical of generalist seed funds. Its general partners are former product and strategy executives from the same enterprise software ecosystems where they now invest, creating a diligence edge in work-tech — a vertical where product adoption cycles are slow and operator expertise can separate viable long-term platforms from point solutions.