Thomas Otter

Thomas joined Acadian Ventures in March 2022 as a General Partner.
Prior to Acadian Ventures, Thomas ran Otter Advisory where he advised companies such as Workday, Ultimate Software, Personio, Unit4, HiBoB, 360Learning, SmartRecruiters, Staffbase, Peakon, and many more.
Additionally, he worked with private equity and and growth equity firms including Warburg Pincus, Scottish Equity Partners, PSG, Goldman Sachs, and Blackstone Group on M&A strategy, negotiations and due diligence.
In addition to being a limited partner is Acadian Ventures first fund he has also been an active angel investor in companies including Reveal, Growblocks, and Maki.
Prior to launching Otter Advisory, Thomas led the product management organization at SAP SuccessFactors, scaling it to more than $1B in annual recurring revenue.
with over 50 million global users.
Thomas also was a research vice president at Gartner Group where he led proprietary research in HR and HR Technology.
He is a strong believer in lifelong learning, and holds a PhD from KIT, which explored the relationship between enterprise software and compliance.
He recently completed the PGDip in Strategy and Innovation at the University of Oxford.
He also holds an LLM in Data Protection Law, a PGDip in HR, and a BA (Hons) in Political Science.
He is a regular guest lecturer at several universities, and a Fellow of The British Computer Society.
Thomas is an avid runner and cyclist, and has an ever-growing collection of vinyl records.
He grew up in South Africa, and now lives in Heidelberg, Germany.