# Thomas Otter

> Thomas Otter is a seed investor at Acadian Ventures backing Software and Human Resources. See 9 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Acadian Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/acadian-ventures)
- Location: Heidelberg, Germany
- Total investments: 9
- Last investment: Dec 2025
- Lead investor: 22%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasotter/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/vendorprisey
- Website: https://x.com/vendorprisey

Thomas Otter is a seed investor at Acadian Ventures in Heidelberg focused on Software and Human Resources. Thomas Otter runs Otter Advisory, a bespoke firm to help buyers, builders and investors navigate the weird and wonderful world of Human Capital Management technology. Thomas built his expertise in consulting, strategy and product management as - most recently - Head of Product at SAP SuccessFactors, and at Gartner as Research Vice President. He hasworked with companies from around the world, including Nestle, Woolworths Australia, Singtel, Teva, PepsiCo, Swiss RE, to name a few.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $2.7M–$6.4M |
| Series A | $5M–$11M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 5 | 56% |
| Human Resources | 5 | 56% |
| Education | 2 | 22% |
| Financial Services | 2 | 22% |
| Information Technology | 2 | 22% |

18 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 5 | 56% |
| Series A | 3 | 33% |
| Series B | 1 | 11% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Germany | 2 | 22% |
| Italy | 1 | 11% |
| Kenya | 1 | 11% |
| Belgium | 1 | 11% |
| The Netherlands | 1 | 11% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pack | Great Resignations are killing the market. More than 40% of workers are not satisfied with their work and the GenZ starts to reclaim different work policies and a better environment. Companies are now starting to fight the challenge but they are losing it miserably. Mentoring is the game changer. We developed a scientific methodology based on datato run global mentoring programs with world star mentors from more than 10 countries. We are able to mix neuroscience, behavioural sciences and positive psychology to foster people growth and offer to HR departments a complete overview of performance and happiness of employees | $6.7M | Series A | Dec 02, 2025 |  |
| Penzilla | At Penzilla, we believe it's time to make corporate pension provision the way it really should be - simple. That's why we offer a solution that helps everyone get the maximum benefit from corporate pension options. Most importantly, we enable every employer to achieve true corporate social responsibility with 100% compliance and everyemployee to receive a fair pension. This is how corporate pension provision works with Penzilla: Let's "Simply Provision" together. | $3.6M | Seed | May 14, 2025 |  |
| datascalehr | datascalehr develops AI Agents and APIs to natively connect to, and reconcile any Payroll and any HR data source in the world. datascalehr Payroll Providers and Global EORs more profitable by recognizing revenue 6-9 months faster and increasing gross margins 10%+. The company serves multi-country payroll, global employer of record / EOR,payroll service providers and payroll business process outsourcing companies. |  | Seed | Oct 25, 2024 |  |
| become.1 | become.1 is an employee benefits platform that eliminates the complexity of tax regulations for employees. | $3.7M | Seed | Sep 18, 2024 |  |
| Workpay | Workpay is a Payroll, Benefits, Compliance software company with embedded finance for local and remote teams in Africa. We empower teams to hire local and remote teams across Africa while staying compliant and without the hustle of having local entities. | $5M | Series A | Aug 22, 2024 |  |
| TechWolf | TechWolf develops an AI-based talent intelligence platform that allows enterprises to adopt a skills-based talent model. The company's platform automatically monitors employees’ skills based on HR information and their digital footprint on the work floor. Its AI-based software offers organizations an overview of skills and skill gaps acrosstheir workforce and actionable insights on current and future skill needs. | $42.8M | Series B | Jun 24, 2024 |  |
| AG5 | With AG5 Skills Management Software you can create clear skills matrices and dashboards within a centralised skills hub, integrating data from all your HR and learning tools. Moving away from unmanageable spreadsheets, AG5 provides clear, concise, and audit-proof skills matrices that make workforce management easy and convenient. | $6.4M | Seed | Mar 14, 2023 |  |
| Workpay | Workpay is a Payroll, Benefits, Compliance software company with embedded finance for local and remote teams in Africa. We empower teams to hire local and remote teams across Africa while staying compliant and without the hustle of having local entities. | $2.7M | Seed | Feb 21, 2023 |  |
| TechWolf | TechWolf develops an AI-based talent intelligence platform that allows enterprises to adopt a skills-based talent model. The company's platform automatically monitors employees’ skills based on HR information and their digital footprint on the work floor. Its AI-based software offers organizations an overview of skills and skill gaps acrosstheir workforce and actionable insights on current and future skill needs. | $10.5M | Series A | May 10, 2022 |  |

9 of 9 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Rialto Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/rialto-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [AXIAN](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/axian-fb5f) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Fortino Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fortinocapital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [PMV](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pmv-eu) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Saviu Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/saviu-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Stride.VC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/stride-vc) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Acadian Ventures

VC Fund · New York, United States

Acadian Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the new architecture of work. Founded in 2019 and led by executives from Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors, and Workday, Acadian is the world’s leading firm focused at the intersection of work and technology, on a mission to make work better and meaningful, creating a progressiveapproach to human productivity. For more information, visit acadianventures.com.

2 contacts available at Acadian Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Jason Corsello | Founder and General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jason-corsello |
| Thomas Otter | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/thomas-otter |

## Similar investors

### Similar industry
- [Reach Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/reach-capital) — VC Fund
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [GSV Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gsv-acceleration) — VC Fund

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

### Similar country
- [CDP Venture Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cdp-venture-capital) — VC Fund
- [Club degli Investitori](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/club-degli-investitori) — VC Fund
- [Primo Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/barcamper-ventures) — VC Fund

## Featured in investor lists
- [Education Angel Investors in Italy](https://shizune.co/investors/education-angel-investors-italy)
- [EdTech Angel Investors in Italy](https://shizune.co/investors/edtech-angel-investors-italy)

## FAQ

### What does Thomas Otter invest in?

Thomas Otter invests primarily in Software, Human Resources and Education startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 9 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Germany. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Thomas Otter's check size?

Thomas Otter typically joins rounds of $2.7M–$6.4M at Seed and $5M–$11M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Thomas Otter participates in.

### When did Thomas Otter last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Thomas Otter closed in Dec 2025. Shizune tracks 9 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

# About Shizune
Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features:
- 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others)
- Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data
- Updated daily from public funding news
- CSV and Excel export

The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co