Ada Ventures is a venture capital firm rethinking how venture capital works. We find and fund extraordinary talent where others aren’t looking. We invest in founders building a fairer future for millions of people. Ada Partners LLP (trading as Ada Ventures) is directly authorised and regulated by the FCA, and manages multiple funds and fund-related entities.

Since launching in early 2020, we have invested in fast growing and highly impactful companies like Huboo, Spill, Sproutl, Boundless. We are still learning constantly and our mindset is that of a fast-growth start-up, so you can expect a fast-paced, entrepreneurial culture that values teamwork.

Our investors include some of the biggest names in global tech including the founders of Wise and Supercell, funds including Atomico and the British Business Bank.

The Role

We are hiring an Associate or Principal in the investment team, subject to experience.

As an Associate or Principal in Ada’s investment team you’ll play a key role in the entire investment process.

• You will build relationships with key angels, accelerators and founders in sectors that we are investing in (climate, financial inclusion and healthcare).

• You will spend time with some of the leading people in global tech including our advisors and steering group members, investors and founders in our portfolio

• You will go to events and conferences on behalf of Ada Ventures

• You will be responsible for outbound sourcing of new companies, as well as managing the inbound company submissions through our website, our scout network, founders and events.

• You will immerse yourself in sectors and technology areas of interest to you and the fund, meet hundreds of founders each year, write one-pagers and investment papers for our investment team meetings.

• You will lead on due diligence, including building financial models, cap tables and managing the investment execution phase with the support of a partner.

• You will be empowered to build your personal brand and the brand of the firm to attract the best founders to raise money from Ada Ventures.

• You will be responsible for tracking the proportion of the companies we have seen who have raised money in our stage and geo, companies at each stage of the pipeline and recommending interventions to make sure we are seeing the highest quality companies raising money in the market.

• You will be working directly with Check &/or Matt, the Partners at Ada Ventures, throughout the investment process.

• You have an important role in presenting and discussing investments at our investment committee where you will have a non-voting role.

Key responsibilities

• Investment research

• Outbound sourcing

• Building relationships with investors at other funds that we co-invest with

• DD (due diligence) including building financial models, writing investment one pagers and investment papers

• Managing all inbound including from Ada's scout network

• Investment execution including building cap tables and legal negotiation

• Building network, personal brand and brand of Ada

About you

We believe diversity makes for better performance and we are actively looking for diverse candidates. If you don’t meet all of these criteria but think you’d be a great fit for the role, we’d still love to talk to you.

• You have at least 2-3 years of commercial experience which demonstrates a passion for early stage technology and start-ups

• You have some (6 months-2 years) Venture Capital investment experience

• You have a passion for technology – maybe you’re a gamer, have a technical degree, have a VR headset, or someone who is the early adopter of the latest software or apps in your group of friends

• You are a student of VC and start-ups and you have an insatiable desire to learn

• You are excellent at building relationships and rapport

• You have exceptional attention to detail

• You are analytically minded and very comfortable numerically

• You have strong excel skills and very good written communication

• You are a values-driven individual, prizing integrity and fairness highly

• You are more “we” than “I”

Optional

• Investment experience at a VC fund

• ACA or equivalent financial qualification

Location

London, UK (Notting Hill Gate)

Unfortunately, we are not sponsoring visas at this time.

Benefits

You'll benefit from:

• Competitive salary (as above)

• Opportunity to join the long-term (carried interest/equity) incentive plan after 12 months

• Parental and adoption leave for employees that have been with the fund for more than 12 months

• Training & development budget

• Private healthcare

• Pension contribution

• 25 days holiday per year excluding bank holidays

• Some flexible working

• Opportunity to work remotely during two weeks of the year

Working at Ada

• The full time team is made up of Check Warner & Matt Penneycard (Partners & the investment team), supported by Diarra Smith (Head of Portfolio & Brand) and Xun Ning Choong (Head of Operations). We are supported by an incredible community of LPs, VC operators, consultants, Ada Scouts, Ada Angels and advisors.

• Our culture & values are incredibly important to us and give us a framework for how we show up at work every day. We also expect everyone who works with us to abide by our Code of Conduct.

• Our team is our greatest joy & asset – we want to build a culture where the team is looked after and able to perform at their best each day.

• Family & health – working hard is an imperative at Ada, but we also prioritise family, mental, and physical health

Expected hiring process

We are expecting the hiring process to be as follows. This is an indicative timeline only and the process may be accelerated if we find a suitable candidate.

• 9 Sept 2022: Applications open, including a numerical skills test. This test is intended as an additional data point for us and not an automatic disqualifier.

• 12 Oct 2022: Applications close

• Depending on the number of applicants, we may start interviews before applications close.

• November: first & second round interviews

• On or before 13 Dec 2022: In person interview/case study at Ada's London office

• January 2023: final round & job offer

Accessibility

We have designed this process to try and reduce bias in our hiring process as much as possible. If you have any accessibility requirements, please let us know when completing the application form and we will do our best to accommodate any reasonable requests, including any additional time needed for the numerical skills test.

In particular, we understand that numerical tests and written applications may not be you preferred form of application / testing, but please do complete the application and we will take note of your accessibility needs as part of your application.

For the numerical test, please do take the practice test to familiarise yourself with the style/type of questions asked. If you need more time for the test, please follow the instructions on the test page and email Applied who can set this up for you.