Investment Practice

​THE SEARCH:

Altus Partners are delighted to be partnered with a leading Venture Capital fund to find an Associate to join their investment team.

Our client is an independent, billion-pound investment company, created to found, fund and build transformational businesses. They are involved in company creation, to seed and right through to series D investments spanning three high-growth, high-impact sectors – Life Sciences, Health Tech, Deep Tech. They have a flexible, long-term investment approach, recognising the path from ground-breaking research to global markets takes time and resilience. To date, they have invested in over 80 ambitious companies, helping progress 27 from seed to Series A, and 21 to Series B and beyond, including 2 IPOs and 6 trade sales.  

They recently raised a further $300 million (1bn AUM) in funding from a diverse group of international investors, with strong participation from existing and new blue-chip investors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, pension funds and asset managers. They are in a great place to continue to deploy capital, typically looking at 4 platform deals per year (in HealthTech). The HealthTech focus is broad and diverse; covering multiple segments from AI imaging, big data analytics, digital pharma services, tech enabled care delivery through to smart diagnostics and next generation medical devices.

THE ROLE:

The role will be primarily responsible for finding, creating, diligencing and closing deal opportunities in the HealthTech space. Opportunities range from provision of financial support to make a transformational technology spin-out ready, creation and investment in NewCos, investments in existing start-ups leveraging technology through to follow-on investments in existing portfolio. You will also be working closely with portfolio companies supporting them in multiple ways to catalyse their growth.

Responsibilities:

• Scouting: Proactively engage with academics and founders to build strong relationships and deep understanding of research activities, and in doing so seek out potential new opportunities to (i) create and fund a new company, (ii) invest in an existing business or (iii) provide financial support to make a transformational technology spin-out ready.

• Pipeline Creation: Help create and maintain the internal pipeline of opportunities, proactively applying creative approaches to opportunity identification.

• Thesis Build: Keep up to date with new HealthTech developments globally. Monitor market and technology trends, to help identify thematic areas of interest where HealthTech should proactively build new businesses.

• Due Diligence: Actively contribute to and support due diligence of opportunities through the entire investment process. This will include detailed review of market, technology (science and product roadmap), commercial strategy, competitive landscape, team, IP, regulatory, financials, capital requirements and exit scenarios, using external experts, primary and secondary desk-based research.

• Use outputs of the diligence process to contribute to the development and shaping of the investment case, working with Partner / Principal to build corresponding investment memo.

• Support Principals with all elements of the transaction through to closing, including valuation, structuring, and legal negotiations.

• Portfolio Management: Work closely with our portfolio companies across all stages of their funding cycle (creation to exit), supporting operational build out, team expansion, commercial strategy and fundraising efforts as needed.

• Provide high quality market, technology, and competitor intelligence for select companies ensuring they maintain their leading edge.

• Actively monitor and communicate KPIs, financials and progress internally. 

• Support development of the investment case required for follow-on investments, evaluating deal terms, returns model and capital requirements, and supporting Principal/Partner on legal negotiations through to closing.

• Support portfolio companies’ M&A activities, reviewing external assets and developing and evaluating deal structures.

THE REQUIREMENTS:

Essential:

• BSc or higher in a scientific or health-related discipline.

• At least 3 years industry experience post qualification. This should be gained in:

• Investment bank, investment fund, or management consultancy or Operational experience in healthcare related start-up or innovation role in large corporate.

• Strong analytical skills enabling role holder to gather and interpret complex information and distil these down to key facts, detect and assess risks, and make an initial judgement on investment propositions with clear supporting evidence.

• Exceptional networking skills with experience building and managing external relationships and ability to gain trust of key stakeholders.

• Experience writing reports and delivering presentations, which integrate multiple data sources, succinctly present key facts with clear and compelling message.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to adapt style and presentation depending on the audience.

• Highly proficient in PowerPoint and Excel.

Desirable:

• Industry experience in medical device, diagnostics, or life science tools.

• PhD or Masters in a health-related disciple.

• MBA.

• Strong financial modelling skills.

• Venture capital investment experience.

• Demonstrable venture building skills.