Senior Investment Manager - Ventures
London, UK
Octopus Energy Generation ☀️ – Investment Management /
Full-time /
Hybrid
Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s fastest growing investors in renewable energy. Now with £6bn in assets under management, Octopus Energy Generation is committed to driving the green energy revolution faster than ever before. From large solar projects and wind farms, to more localised people led renewables in the form of the Fan Club, Octopus Energy Generation manages a diverse set of assets on behalf of some of the world’s largest institutional investors.
2024 is going to be big. We are taking a leap further in enabling net zero by bridging the early growth funding gap for IP rich, step change innovation. Octopus Energy Generation is launching a climate tech, institutional capital ventures strategy, and we are looking for a mission led, driving force to join us.
The individual will be pivotal in shaping the strategy and bringing a new growth stage venture fund to market. We are open to background preferring to back self-starters who love the mission and will be committed to making it happen. The individual will likely have a track record of supporting IP rich / deep tech or climate tech ventures at the Series B stage onwards.
Essential Job Functions
You'll divide your time into:
Fund ideation and set-up
- Contribute to developing the fund thesis
- Participate in fund economic modelling and portfolio construction
- Coordinate fund set up with service providers
- Prepare fund materials for LP due diligence
- Support with fund marketing and LP discussions
Finding new opportunities
- Attend and speak at industry events
- Build and maintain a deep network in the UK and European VC ecosystem
- Lead deep dives, industry analysis and market mapping of relevant sectors
- Track and chase companies, you are excited about
- Keep up to date and have a genuine interest in the developments and trends in climate tech and the VC and Growth investing landscape
Leading of new investments
- Take responsibility of all aspects of the deal process
- Lead due diligence, manage advisors, conduct site visits and expert interviews, assess market opportunity and sensitize financial forecasts
- Recommend and own valuation and ideal round structure
- Prepare internal briefing and IC documents
- Present and sell new opportunities internally to the investment and the partners
Portfolio / board work and fund
- Take on board positions
- Find and recruit portfolio NEDs
- Draw on own and team network to support portfolio companies where possible
- Build close working relationships with founding teams of portfolio companies
- Manage complex situations within the portfolio incl. performance management, follow-on rounds and exits
- Act as an Octopus Energy Generation representative in front of multiple stakeholders including investors in our funds, entrepreneurs, other VCs and corporates
Coaching more junior team members and leading the growth origination efforts
- Coach and mentor junior team members to help complement their investor skill set and make high quality investment recommendations
- Lead the venture team’s concerted origination efforts, chair WIP meetings, own and track the team’s opportunity generation efforts
- Support the team lead in defining the team’s strategy driving growth
- Be proactive in suggesting and pursuing opportunities to grow Octopus Energy Ventures’ growth investment practice
We know you have what it takes, if you have
- Extensive relevant professional experience; likely but not necessarily including
- Originating, leading and executing investments in climate/ deep tech VC or growth capital;
- Being a key contributor in making and executing on investment recommendations;
- Working with and monitoring portfolio companies;
- Having acquired a strong analytics and strategy tool kit in strategy consulting, investment banking or a commercial or financial role in tech
- Demonstrable experience leading and coaching junior team members;
- A strong passion for climate/ deep tech investing and knowledge of the VC ecosystem;
- Board experience (advantageous, but not crucial).
You’ll be a great fit for the team, if you are
- A grafter who loves getting stuck in
- A self starter who enjoys exploring opportunities for growth and runs at them
- Mission driven to achieve impact at scale
- A team player who wants to be part of a tight and ambitious team
- Naturally curious and passionate about the companies we invest in and the ecosystem they operate in
- Prepared to get involved in every aspect of fund management
- Ambitious and takes pride in your work
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment
Why you'll love it here
- Wondering what the salary for this role is? On a call with one of our recruiters, this is always something we cover as we genuinely want to match your experience with the correct salary. The reason why we don't advertise is because we honestly have a degree of flexibility and would never want salary to be a reason why someone doesn't apply to Octopus - what's more important to us is finding the right octofit! We will also ask your current salary - we want to let you know this upfront so you're comfortable talking about it on a call with us.
- Octopus Energy is a unique culture. An organisation where people learn, decide, and build quicker. Where people work with autonomy, alongside a wide range of amazing co-owners, on projects that break new ground. We want your hard work to be rewarded with perks you actually care about! We won best company to work for in 2022, our Group CEO, Greg has recorded a podcast about our culture and how we empower our people. We’ve also been placed in the top 10 companies for senior leadership
To support your application we would also like you to answer the following pre-screening questions. Feel free to submit them in any shareable format to rish.jandu@octoenergy.com.
1) For a Series B, £500m venture fund how would you plan portfolio construction?
2) Which market challenges and technological solutions for net zero are you most bullish on and why?
3) What fund value add would you develop, for what reasons, and how would you build it?
4) Which 2 companies would you invest in first and why?
