Welcome to our inaugural Future of Work 100, a ranking of the leading startup companies that are building enduring businesses that make work better, fairer, more meaningful, and ultimately more productive.
The Future of Work 100 includes 64 companies currently valued over $1 billion, 20 “rising stars”, with valuations ranging from $500 million to nearly $1 billion, and 16 “up & comers”, or companies valued less than $500 million. We expect you will recognize many of the names on the list. Some of those companies have captured eye-popping valuations and continue to grow aggressively in the midst of a looming recession.
Collectively, the Future of Work 100 maintains a market capitalization of over $200 billion. The companies on this year’s list come from 16 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. The companies also span many categories including productivity and collaboration, HR and payroll, and health and wellness. What’s most exciting about the list, though, is that the companies are addressing fundamental challenges that create more sustainable work and enduring workforces.
Total
Valuation
Valuation
$
211.8
B
Total
Capital Raised
Capital Raised
$
29.8
B
ARR Multiple
(Median)
(Median)
19.8
x
$
1.1
B
Median
Valuation
Valuation
64
Unicorns
(>$1B)
(>$1B)
$
204.6
M
Median
Capital Raised
Capital Raised
20
Rising Stars
($500B-$1B)
($500B-$1B)
2015
Median
Founding Year
Founding Year
16
Up & Comers
(<$500M)
(<$500M)
By Geography
By Category
Top Investors
Key Takeaways
The Future of Work 100 represents $30 billion in venture capital investment with a combined valuation of over $211 billion. The list reveals some interesting trends that will shape the adoption and growth of work technologies for the next decade and beyond. A few of those highlights include:
The world is flat. The Future of Work 100 is highly representative of the global nature of work today. Not only can you build a technology company anywhere in the world today but companies themselves are being staffed with employees globally. The ranking is represented by companies across 14 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA.
Managing talent has become an existential crisis for every company. It is clear that the rapid growth of companies and market capitalization on the list is proof that companies must invest in work technologies to not only remain competitive but survive. We believe market leaders in the future must be talent factories that are constantly innovating in people, process, and technology adoption.
The end of Silicon Valley dominance. Silicon Valley has long been the breeding ground for unicorns. In this year’s list, 45% of the Future of Work 100 are based in Silicon Valley. But Silicon Valley represents only 34% of the Rising Stars and Up & Comers. More importantly, we have found in our research that companies located outside of Silicon Valley tend to build more durable companies. That essentially means those companies raise less money, they grow faster, and are more capital efficient.
Survival of the unicorns? The lingering question regarding the 2023 list is how valuations will hold up over the next year and beyond. With the median ARR multiple at 19.8x, it is widely believed that most unicorn companies are overvalued when you compare similar, publicly traded companies that have a median ARR multiple of around 6x. We anticipate valuations, particularly with the unicorn companies, will reset over the next 12 months with many changes anticipated for our list next year.
64
Companies
$
345
M
Capital Raised (Median)
$
1.6
B
Valuation
(Median)
(Median)
20.5
x
ARR multiple
(Median LTM)
(Median LTM)
There are currently 64 unicorn companies, or companies currently valued at over $1 billion, on the 2023 Future of Work 100 List. Those 64 companies account for over $25B of venture capital raised and $194 billion in valuation over the last decade. There are 11 countries represented on this year's list including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and USA. USA-based companies represents 74% of the unicorns today.
20
Companies
$
139
M
Capital Raised (Median)
$
718
M
Valuation
(Median)
(Median)
13.8
x
ARR multiple
(Median LTM)
(Median LTM)
There are 20 Rising Stars, or companies valued between $500 million and $1 billion, on the 2023 Future of Work 100 List. 44% of the companies on this year’s list are headquartered outside the USA, representing countries including Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Israel, and the United Kingdom. The 20 Rising Stars account for over $2.9 billion in capital raised, worth over $13.5 billion in total valuation.
16
Companies
$
79
M
Capital Raised (Median)
$
337
M
Valuation
(Median)
(Median)
14.5
x
ARR multiple
(Median LTM)
(Median LTM)
There are 16 “Up and Coming” companies, or companies valued at less than $500 million, on the 2023 Future of Work 100 List. The median company has raised $79 million at $337 million valuation. 41% of the Up and Coming companies are headquartered outside the USA including countries such as Australia, Belgium, Chile, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Full List
#
Company
Founded
Category
Headquarters
Employees
Capital Raised ($M)
CEO
1
Workrise
2014
People & Jobs
Austin, USA
600
$817.50
Michael Witte
2
Miro
2011
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
2102
$476.30
Andrey Khusid
3
Airtable
2012
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
1000
$1,353.00
Howie Liu
4
Checkr
2014
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
996
$679.70
Daniel Yanisse
5
Notion
2013
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
493
$343.40
Ivan Zhao
6
Deel
2018
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
2030
$679.50
Alex Bouaziz
7
Headspace Health
2011
Health & Wellness
San Francisco, USA
501
$236.00
Russell Glass
8
justWorks
2012
Operations & Management
New York, USA
1104
$146.50
Michael Seckler
9
BetterUp
2013
Development & Skills
San Francisco, USA
740
$631.70
Alexi Robichaux
10
Gusto
2011
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
2449
$751.30
Josh Reeves
11
Guild Education
2015
Development & Skills
Denver, USA
1500
$643.20
Rachel Carlson
12
Personio
2014
Operations & Management
Munich, Germany
1500
$725.00
Hanno Renner
13
Lyra Health
2015
Health & Wellness
San Francisco, USA
1847
$906.80
David Ebersman
14
Handshake
2014
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
796
$434.80
Garrett Lord
15
Alan
2016
Health & Wellness
Paris, France
682
$552.20
Jean Charles Samuelian
16
Rippling
2016
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
1700
$1,197.10
Parker Conrad
17
Lattice
2015
Culture & Engagement
San Francisco, USA
756
$330.30
Jack Altman
18
Front
2013
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
482
$203.40
Mathilde Collin
19
Employment Hero
2014
Operations & Management
Sydney, Australia
324
$346.00
Ben Thompson
20
Clickup
2017
Productivity & Collaboration
San Diego, USA
991
$536.80
Zeb Evans
21
Eruditus
2010
Development & Skills
Mumbai, India
2000
$593.60
Chaitanya Kalipatnapu
22
Nomi Health
2019
Health & Wellness
Salt Lake City, USA
2000
$120.00
Mark Newman
23
Avature
2005
People & Jobs
New York, USA
1319
$50.00
Dimitri Boylan
24
Incredible Health
2017
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
200
$97.40
Iman Abuzeid
25
GO1
2015
Development & Skills
Brisbane, Australia
524
$374.00
Andrew Barnes
26
BambooHR
2008
Operations & Management
Salt Lake City, USA
1372
$100.00
Brad Rencher
27
Spring Health
2016
Health & Wellness
New York, USA
996
$367.00
April Koh
28
Superhuman
2014
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
134
$138.70
Rahul Vohra
29
Seekout
2017
People & Jobs
Seattle, USA
244
$188.20
Anoop Gupta
30
Jobandtalent
2009
People & Jobs
Madrid, Spain
2000
$1,070.00
Felipe Navio
31
DailyPay
2015
Operations & Management
New York, USA
726
$900.80
Kevin Coop
32
Papaya Global
2016
Operations & Management
New York, USA
776
$440.50
Eynat Guez
33
Hibob
2015
Operations & Management
Tel Aviv, Israel
700
$434.30
Ronni Zehavi
34
Degreed
2012
Development & Skills
San Francisco, USA
605
$385.20
David Blake
35
Payfit
2018
Operations & Management
Paris, France
1100
$495.90
Firmin Zocchetto
36
Mural
2011
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
824
$148.80
Mariano Suarez-Battan
37
Paradox
2016
People & Jobs
Phoenix, USA
493
$303.30
Aaron Matos
38
Loom
2016
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
292
$198.20
Joe Thomas
39
Knoetic
2017
Operations & Management
New York, USA
8
$54.00
Joseph Quan
40
Workboard
2013
Culture & Engagement
San Francisco, USA
245
$138.70
Deidre Paknad
41
Remote
2019
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
1000
$495.70
Job van der Voort
42
Fountain
2014
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
293
$185.00
Sean Behr
43
Velocity Global
2014
Operations & Management
Denver, USA
902
$500.00
Ben Wright
44
Nexthink
2004
Culture & Engagement
Prilly, Switzerland
931
$351.20
Pedro Bados
45
Visier
2010
Operations & Management
Vancouver, Canada
600
$219.50
Ryan Wong
46
Eightfold
2016
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
477
$395.80
Ashutosh Garg
47
Phenom People
2010
People & Jobs
Philadelphia, USA
1606
$161.70
Mahe Bayireddi
48
SmartRecruiters
2010
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
600
$215.00
Michael DeSimone
49
Workstream
2016
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
229
$108.50
Desmond Lim
50
Pave
2019
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
185
$163.00
Matt Schulman
51
Greenhouse
2012
People & Jobs
New York, USA
873
$110.00
Daniel Chait
52
Culture Amp
2011
Culture & Engagement
Melbourne, Australia
1000
$228.40
Didier Elzinga
53
Staffbase
2014
Operations & Management
Chemnitz, Germany
760
$301.00
Martin Bohringer
54
Modern Health
2017
Health & Wellness
San Francisco, USA
300
$170.10
Alyson Friedensohn
55
360Learning
2010
Development & Skills
Paris, France
381
$243.10
Nick Hernandez
56
Gem
2017
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
399
$148.10
Micah Winkelspecht
57
Wrapbook
2018
Operations & Management
New York, USA
183
$130.50
Ali Javid
58
Gloat
2015
People & Jobs
New York, USA
300
$186.30
Ben Reuveni
59
Connecteam
2013
Operations & Management
Tel Aviv, Israel
200
$168.60
Amir Nehemia
60
Glean
2019
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
200
$156.00
Arvind Jain
61
HackerRank
2009
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
330
$118.40
Vivek Ravisankar
62
Karat
2014
People & Jobs
Seattle, USA
417
$171.10
Mohit Bhende
63
Coda
2014
Productivity & Collaboration
San Francisco, USA
327
$253.00
Shishir Mehrotra
64
Earnin
2012
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
254
$246.50
Ram Palaniappan
65
Truework
2017
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
96
$104.90
Ryan Sandler
66
League
2014
Health & Wellness
Toronto, Canada
618
$205.80
Michael Serbinis
67
Yunxuetang
2011
Development & Skills
Suzhou, China
1000
$391.90
Jane Ding
68
Andela
2014
People & Jobs
New York, USA
1534
$377.90
Jeremy Johnson
69
Beamery
2012
People & Jobs
London, UK
417
$173.00
Abakar Saidov
70
Sense
2016
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
358
$90.00
Anil Dharni
71
Oyster
2019
Operations & Management
Charlotte, USA
640
$226.90
Tony Jamous
72
Pinwheel
2018
Operations & Management
New York, USA
95
$77.00
Kurtis Lin
73
Human Interest
2015
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
700
$413.60
Jeff Schneble
74
Zenjob
2015
People & Jobs
Berlin, Germany
535
$107.70
Fritz Trott
75
Turing
2018
People & Jobs
San Francisco, USA
1450
$138.50
Jonathan Siddharth
76
Check
2019
Operations & Management
New York, USA
126
$119.00
Andrew Brown
77
Multiverse
2016
Development & Skills
London, UK
912
$429.50
Euan Blair
78
Teamtailor
2013
People & Jobs
Stockholm, Sweden
240
$16.90
Erik Andersson
79
CoachHub
2018
Development & Skills
Berlin, Germany
850
$352.80
Matti Niebelschuetz
80
Wonolo
2013
People & Jobs
Portland, USA
762
$248.50
Yong Kim
81
Beekeeper
2011
Productivity & Collaboration
Zurich, Switzerland
200
$139.70
Cristian Grossmann
82
Simpplr
2014
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
426
$131.10
Dhiraj Sharma
83
Merge
2020
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
61
$75.00
Shensi Ding
84
Class
2020
Development & Skills
Washington DC, USA
235
$163.80
Michael Chassen
85
Scaler Academy
2016
Development & Skills
Bengaluru, India
1800
$83.90
Anshuman Singh
86
Quinyx
2005
Operations & Management
Stockholm, Sweden
500
$84.40
Erik Fjellborg
87
Syndio
2016
People & Jobs
Seattle, USA
175
$78.70
Maria Colacurcio
88
Factorial
2016
Operations & Management
Barcelona, Spain
800
$220.20
Jordi Romero
89
Glints
2013
People & Jobs
Singapore
200
$79.80
Oswald Yeo
90
Humu
2017
Development & Skills
San Francisco, USA
150
$109.50
Scott Chancellor
91
Charthop
2018
Culture & Engagement
San Francisco, USA
200
$54.00
Ian White
92
WorkTrans
2015
Operations & Management
Shanghai, China
600
$314.00
Feng Chu
93
Omnipresent
2019
Operations & Management
London, UK
400
$138.40
Matthew Wilson
94
Darwinbox
2015
Operations & Management
Hyderabad, India
700
$120.20
Rohit Chennamaneni
95
Reejig
2018
People & Jobs
Sydney, Australia
64
$41.60
Siobhan Savage
96
Origin
2018
Operations & Management
San Francisco, USA
161
$76.00
Matthew Watson
97
Buk
2016
Operations & Management
Santiago, Chile
875
$85.10
Jaime Boetsch
98
Apna
2019
People & Jobs
Mumbai, India
897
$192.50
Nirmit Parikh
99
Skillshare
2010
Development & Skills
New York, USA
120
$151.00
Matt Cooper
100
TechWolf
2018
Development & Skills
Ghent, Belgium
50
$11.90
Andreas De Neve
Methodology
The Future of Work 100 is ranked based on two key metrics: valuation and revenue per employee. The last round valuation is the most recent, publicly available valuation. Revenue per employee is calculated based on estimated revenue divided by the number of employees.
Data sources
We leverage three primary sources of our data: Pitchbook, Linkedin, and our own proprietary data. Pitchbook is our primary data source where we capture valuation, revenue, and employee data. We leverage Linkedin as a secondary source primarily for employee data. Lastly, as a highly-specialized venture firm, Acadian Ventures captures our own proprietary data that we use to complete our analysis.
Disclosure
Any opinions in this list (this “List”) are Acadian Ventures' views and are provided for educational purposes only. None of the above is investment advice, a recommendation or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities or investment products. Offerings are made only pursuant to a private offering memorandum containing important information. Statements in this List are made as of the date of this List unless stated otherwise, and there is no implication that the information contained herein is correct as of any other time. Certain information contained in this Letter has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable and current, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed. References herein to specific sectors are not to be considered a recommendation or solicitation for any such sector. Projections or forward-looking statements contained in this List are only estimates of future results or events that are based upon assumptions made at the time such projections or statements were developed or made. There can be no assurance that the results set forth in the projections or the events predicted will be attained or occur, and actual results may be significantly different from the projections or statements. Also, general economic factors, which are not predictable, can have a material impact on the reliability of projections or forward-looking statements.
Ranking
The Future of Work 100 comprises venture-backed companies that have built work-specific solutions. These solutions are predominantly business-to-business (B2B) applications that are adopted by companies of all sizes and marketplaces whereas the solution is bring together a consumer and business (ex. job marketplace)