RESEARCH SECTOR
Future of Work
The way we work is changing rapidly. We’re interested in technologies that redefine where, how and when work is done, including workforce management and optimization as well as talent acquisition, development, and management platforms.
Discover the latest trends and technologies shaping future of work
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Key themes and focus areas
Our future-of-work focus encompasses tech companies that enable employers, individuals and broader society to optimize their returns on investments in people.
- Talent acquisition
- Learning & development
- Talent management
- Employee experience
- Workforce planning
- People analytics
- Workforce management
- Payroll
- Benefits
- Vendor management
- Freelance management
- Marketplaces
In many industries, the investment employers make in their workforce often represents their most significant expense. However, the use of technology to enhance these investments lags other operational areas. Given the broad advent of artificial intelligence, we believe significant value will be created through technologies designed to personalize and enhance the development and management of people.
Our history in the education sector broadened over time to encompass the future-of-work sector as we saw opportunities to drive value through new technologies that create lasting returns for individuals and society at large.
Our sector leaders
Corey Greendale
Managing Director, Office of the President
James Macdonald
Managing Director
Richard Conklin
Managing Director
Matthew Nicklin
Managing Director, Office of the President
Charles Morgan
AnalystFeatured insights and research reports
HR integration tech helps companies win the best-of-breed vs. suite battle
Corey Greendale, Charles Morgan
Large opportunity for employee coaching platforms helping win the war for talent
Corey Greendale, Christopher Tran
Mentoring and coaching tech: Key to scaling learning and development
Corey Greendale
Freelance marketplaces an essential element of the future talent tech stack
Corey Greendale
COVID-19 is a lit match in the tinderbox of workforce globalization
Corey Greendale
Talent acquisition technology: New ammunition in the re-escalating war for talent
Corey Greendale
Venture capital activities
Founded in 2016, Visage simplifies candidate sourcing and outreach so recruiters can focus on what really matters – their candidates. Visage creates a strong and diverse candidate pipeline so that employers can focus on interviewing and assessing talent rather than searching for it. Visage solves this through its crowdsourcing solution plus advanced AI, a combination that can find the best candidates for open roles in a matter of hours. Its community of over 4,000 global sourcers has access to millions of passive candidates.
Since its founding in 2003, Perceptyx has been redefining the employee insights industry, delivering enterprise-level employee listening and people analytics to more than 400 clients, including nearly a third of the Fortune 100. With an unrivaled technology platform and a tailor-made, flexible approach, the Perceptyx platform makes it easy for managers, HR executives and business leaders to discover insights deep within large and complex organizations, driving meaningful action to improve business outcomes. Driven by a deep intellectual curiosity and a culture of innovation, Perceptyx is challenging the status quo — to help people and organizations “see the way forward.” Perceptyx acquired First Analysis portfolio company Waggl in 2021.
Yello’s early talent acquisition platform allows the world’s leading brands to deliver personalized candidate experiences to every job seeker, resulting in quality hires and faster fills. The centralized platform is easy to use, enabling recruiters to collaborate with one another to attract and engage top talent. Key hiring statistics provide meaningful insights that lead to more accurate, data-driven decisions while staying on budget.
Relevant advisory transactions
Exclusive financial advisor
TBX has been acquired by Selerix
First Analysis acted as the exclusive financial advisor to The Benefits eXpert® (TBX), an employee benefits technology company that offers an engagement, education and administrative platform, in its sale to Selerix, a provider of cloud-based benefits administration and communications solutions.
About TBX
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, TBX is transforming the workplace benefits enrollment and administrative landscape through innovative self-service technology. Its mobile-responsive platform streamlines engagement, education and enrollment, empowering employees to make informed benefits decisions. TBX combines behavioral science-based educational videos, a data-driven decision support tool, and bilingual English–Spanish capabilities to deliver clarity and accessibility. Employers gain a no-cost enrollment solution implemented in 45 days or less, with proactive data audits, seamless electronic data exchange, call center support, and exceptional customer service – offering significant administrative and financial relief. TBX is a trusted partner for organizations seeking efficient and impactful benefits management.
About Selerix
Selerix is an industry-leading benefits administration provider for both core and voluntary benefits. Its solution combines a flexible benefits admin platform with a commitment to providing best-in-class client service. In addition, the Selerix platform includes ACA reporting and employee engagement to deliver a fully featured, all-in-one package. Trusted by brokers, carriers, over 25,000 employer groups, and 14 million individuals, the Selerix mission is to deliver benefits administration solutions that actually benefit employees.
Exclusive financial advisor
ClearCompany has been acquired by Gemspring
First Analysis acted as the exclusive financial advisor to ClearCompany, a full-spectrum talent management platform, in Gemspring Capital’s acquisition of the company.
About ClearCompany:
ClearCompany, a full-spectrum talent management platform, has enabled thousands of companies to maximize talent by empowering people at every stage of the employee journey. ClearCompany integrates data-driven best practices, expert-informed content and tailored software tools to recruit, ramp, recognize and retain employees, uniting people and processes to achieve business success.
About Gemspring:
Gemspring Capital, a Westport, Conn.-based private equity firm with $3.5 billion of capital under management, provides flexible capital solutions to middle market companies. Gemspring partners with talented management teams and takes a partnership approach to helping drive revenue growth, value creation and sustainable competitive advantages. Target companies have up to $500 million in revenue in the aerospace and defense, business services, consumer, financial and insurance services, healthcare services, industrial services, software and tech-enabled services or specialty manufacturing sectors.
Exclusive financial advisor
Jellyvision has acquired Picwell
First Analysis acted as the exclusive buy-side financial advisor to Jellyvision, a leading employee benefits engagement solution provider, in its acquisition of Picwell, a healthcare technology company focused on AI-generated benefits decision support.
About Jellyvision:
Jellyvision’s mission is to improve lives by helping people choose and use their benefits. The company’s platform, ALEX, provides employees with 24/7 benefits resources and guidance at key moments when they’re already thinking about their health and well-being. Through behavioral science, Jellyvision engages employees in a benefits experience that leads to smarter decision-making, more money saved, and increased trust in their employer.
About Picwell:
Picwell is a healthcare technology company providing enterprise solutions to enhance health insurance and employee benefits and improve consumer experiences. Its flagship offering, Picwell DX, is a SaaS-based decision support product that uses artificial intelligence to match individuals to the right health benefits during enrollment by predicting future care considerations, estimating out-of-pocket expenses, and accounting for individual preferences. Other solutions support consumerism and high-deductible health plan adoption, consumer engagement and risk management.
Exclusive financial advisor
Selerix Systems secured an investment by NexPhase Capital
First Analysis acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Selerix in securing an investment from NexPhase Capital. Selerix produces software used by employers, brokers and carriers to simplify benefits administration, employee engagement and Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting.
About Selerix Systems:
Selerix Systems produces software (Selerix BenSelect and Selerix Engage) used by employers, brokers and carriers to conquer the chaos of benefits administration, employee engagement, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting. The flexibility of the Selerix BenSelect platform accommodates both core and voluntary insurance products with ease. With an active user base of over 8.3 million client employees, Selerix’s innovative software solutions are trusted by organizations in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, education, transportation/logistics, state and local government, nonprofit, high technology and waste management.
About NexPhase Capital:
NexPhase Capital is a thematic and operationally-focused private equity firm that invests in lower middle market growth-oriented companies within three distinct sectors: consumer, healthcare and software. The firm targets companies that have reached a growth inflection point and are seeking a value-added partner to help navigate the “next phase.” The NexPhase team has extensive industry and operational experience and NexPhase’s partners have invested together for over a decade. The firm has completed more than 80 investments including add-ons and targets control equity investments between $25 million and $150 million.
Investment banking and corporate finance services are provided through First Analysis Securities Corporation (“FASC” or “First Analysis Securities”), a subsidiary of First Analysis Corp.