The future of work feels like the loudest features of the startup category, but Worklife Ventures founder Brianne Kimmel has a more down-to-earth definition. The solo- GP has supported companies that will help modern workers, from virtual workspace to email tools to a video chat platform that hopes to feel more human than Zoom.
She said that they want to build software for the average person that will enable them to make more money.
Her own investors believe enough in her to give her more money. According to SEC filings that have since been removed, she raised $35 million for her second future work focused fund, nearly half of what she originally targeted. The investor taking notes from the new structure said that she will eventually launch a structure that will allow WorkLife to continuously fundraise and scale assets through smaller funds, SPVs and an evergreen entity. The second chapter of WorkLife is one that comes amid a still present Pandemic.
The first fund of WorkLife was $5 million and was backed by a number of high-profile people. Soona Amhaz was one of the first female solo- GPs to splash on the scene, along with Shruti Gandhi and more recently Haun Venture.
WorkLife said that 40% of the new fund's deals will come from the SaaS School, a biannual workshop for entrepreneurs. It seems that he is taking a more expansive approach. She says WorkLife has already written five checks out of the new funds with an average check size of $2 million and post-money valuation of $20 million.
WorkLife's first fund had a target check size of $150,000 per startup. WorkLife room would have been given by that target. Fund I backed 97 companies with smaller checks. The companies in the portfolio have raised follow-on capital.
The firm doesn't track specific numbers on diversity, but they do write first checks for operators who are leaving tech companies and starting their own companies. All but one of Kimmel's investments have had a female founder, something she wants to take a stronger stance on in the second fund. Since the firm's debut, there has been a consistent focus on backing immigrants.
WorkLife's performance has largely been driven by a select group of unicorns in the portfolio.
Some companies that boomed during the first two years of distributed work have been facing correction. WorkLife invested in Hopin, one of its most successful bets that recently laid off 12% of its staff.
Those are natural growing pains that happen over the course of a company's history, according to Jimmy. She pointed out that the growth from zero to $100 million in ARR was compressed into two years.
The growth of another WorkLife portfolio company is nuanced. In around a year after raising capital, Clubhouse became a $4 billion company. The company faced moderation issues due to the proliferation of an antisemitic room. Downloads growth slowed as the world opened up.
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