Riviera Partners, an executive search firm for engineering, product, and design leadership roles, has acquired Arete Partners. The Arete team will form the foundation of Riviera Ventures and build upon their focus on Seed-to-B stage VC-backed startups.  Eóin O’ Toole, co-founder and CEO of Arete Partners, will lead Riviera Ventures.

“Riviera Partners is synonymous with startup recruiting, a position earned through a relentless focus on quality and specialization,” said O’ Toole. “The Arete team has become the leader in identifying emerging executive talent at a startup’s earliest stages. I am both excited and confident that the combined entity, leveraging Riviera Partners’ proprietary ML-enabled platform, will deliver even greater value creation for our VC partners, clients, and candidates.”

“The focus and specialization our companies share makes us highly compatible and will help us meet the existing and increasing demand for tech leadership recruiting,” said Will Hunsinger, CEO of Riviera Partners. “With this acquisition and Arete’s expertise, we significantly enhance our market coverage of earlier stage companies while bringing our proprietary service-meets-tech offering to our combined clientele.”