Valuation multiples for publicly-listed Workplace Productivity businesses contracted in Q4, in line with much of the broader technology sector. Median valuations for HR Services and Diversified WorkTech showed greater resilience, expanding by 28% and 13% respectively. In terms of M&A, 70 WorkTech acquisitions were announced, a c.9% increase compared to the previous quarter with significant interest in Talent Acquisition as well as Workforce Management assets. Private Equity was involved in c.7% of transactions. Investment volumes remained elevated, with more than $11.1Bn invested in the sector across 190 deals. The average investment size continued to grow, reaching $62.2M vs. $56.8M in the previous quarter.

London and Michigan Center, MI, Nov 8th, 2021 - Ceridian (NYSE: CDAY; TSX: CDAY), a global leader in human capital management (HCM) technology, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of DataFuzion HCM, Inc., a specialist enterprise workforce management and HCM integration solutions provider based in Michigan Center, MI. Venero Capital Advisors and Acquisitions Partners Group acted as joint financial advisers to DataFuzion.

WorkTech is going from strength to strength, with $12.9 billion invested into the sector last quarter across 230 transactions. Average investment size continues to increase, driven by major investments such as $1.5 billion into Articulate (online training) and $1 billion into Visma (​core business software). M&A activity remained elevated, with 61 transactions being announced – a slight decline compared to the previous three quarters but still well above 2020 and even 2019 levels. Major transactions this quarter included Cegid's acquisition of Talentsoft, Blackstone's acquisition of Simplilearn and ​Veritone's acquisition of Pandologic. Median trading valuation for WorkTech businesses expanded to 10.9x, driven by the successful IPO’s of Freshworks and Paycor. The median trading multiple for Productivity vendors was volatile, impacted primarily by Zoom and the IPO of Monday.com.

London, 18 August 2021 -  Venero Capital Advisors acted as sole financial advisor to CURO Compensation, a global leader in pay equity and compensation management technology, in its acquisition by Payscale, the leading provider of compensation data, software and services. Payscale is backed by two leading technology-focused private equity firms, Francisco Partners and Insight Partners.

London, 20 July 2021 -  Venero Capital Advisors acted as sole financial advisor to Jubiwee, a leading French employee engagement platform, in its acquisition by COYO, the leading European social intranet and employee communications platform. COYO is a portfolio company of Marlin Equity Partners.

Q2 2021 was the second consecutive record-breaking quarter for WorkTech, with $8.9 billion invested in the sector globally across 200 transactions. This compares to $5.3 billion across 178 transactions in the previous quarter. There were more than 30 funding rounds in excess of $100 million, primarily in Business Management, Compensation & Benefits, Core HR & Payroll, Corporate Learning & Development, Talent Acquisition and Productivity. 

M&A activity in the quarter was in line with Q1 2021. There were 63 transactions and $12 billion of announced value. Private Equity was involved in 23% of acquisitions, with particular interest in Corporate Learning and Talent Acquisition.

A record $5.2Bn was invested in Work Tech during 1Q 2021 across 172 deals – all-time high levels both in terms of volume and value. The average investment size continued to grow, reaching $31.4M vs. $21.2M in the previous quarter. In terms of M&A, several major vendors pursued acquisitions, taking advantage of market conditions. 52 acquisition were announced in total – a slight pullback compared to the peak of 4Q 2020 but still high compared to historical levels. In the public markets, median valuation multiples for pure Work Tech companies expanded 19% to 9.0x CY2021 revenue vs. the end of Q4 ‘20. Productivity businesses pulled back from their peak, contracting by 25% over the same period, while valuation multiples for Diversified Work Tech and HR Services remained broadly stable.

M&A activity continued to recover in December with 20 Work Tech acquisitions announced, including the acquisition of Slack by Salesforce and Pluralsight by Vista. This brings the total number of acquisitions for Q4 2020 to 56 – levels not seen since the peak of 2019. Investments in Future of Work businesses totalled $967M in November across 27 deals, with average investment size of $35.8M. Investments were broad-based, with propensity towards Productivity and Talent Acquisition.

November was a near-record setting month for WorkTech M&A activity, with 20 transactions announced globally. This included Vettery's acquisition of Hired.com, Vonq's acquisition of IGB, OutMatch's acquisition of Checkster, iCIMS' acquisition of EASYRECRUE and SmartRecruiters' acquisition of jobpal. Public trading valuations for pure HRTech firms closed at a record average of 10.7x CY2020 revenues. ​Investments in Future of Work businesses totaled $542M in November across 40 deals.