Company Description
At Octopus we're transforming the industries we operate in and improving the lives of millions of people. We've built market-leading positions in a number of specialist sectors, including smaller company financing, renewable energy, healthcare and property finance. We employ in excess of 800 people and manage more than £9.1 billion on behalf of more than 50,000 investors. Our products don't just help real people solve real life problems, they also make a positive impact on the world around us.
The Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Renewables, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Investments, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Labs. Our aim is to have an impact in everything we do, and to make a vital contribution to the UK economy by helping people, companies and institutions generate wealth. And we're always on the look-out for smart, talented people who share our values.
About Octopus Ventures
Octopus Ventures, part of Octopus Group, is one of the largest VCs in Europe. We invest in the pioneers who will create the next $1 billion companies in the consumer, heath, fintech and deep tech sectors. We know that being bold and generous with our time, our network and our knowledge works for everyone. We draw on the diversity of our experience to help the companies we back get better, faster, whether that involves building teams, developing their CEOs or scaling internationally.
We aim to be helpful and straightforward, committed to shaping an ecosystem where the brightest entrepreneurs can make a meaningful contribution to society. We know that companies which embrace diversity, including our own, perform better, which is why we've joined others and signed up to #movingforward.
Octopus Ventures have backed the founding teams of nearly 100 companies including Zoopla, Secret Escapes, Elvie, Depop, Sofar Sounds and Cazoo. Some of our portfolio companies have gone on to join forces with the world's largest businesses including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter.
Job Description
Octopus Ventures is one of the most active early-stage investors in the UK. With more than £1 billion in AUM and significant capital to deploy into new and follow-on investments. Today we have a portfolio of over 80 companies and have ambitions to grow this number considerably in the coming years.
Monitoring the performance of our portfolio companies' post-investment is an important function of our business. This includes a bi-annual valuation process as well as more frequent tracking of key KPIs across the portfolio. We use this information for a variety of purposes ranging from fund reporting to informing portfolio management decisions.
You will take a leading role on preparation of portfolio valuations (alongside the board representatives), ownership of monthly portfolio data collection and analysis, as well as being a key contributor to investment track record analysis and the engagement of various stakeholders including the fund Board, Limited Partners, and internal users of the data. The individual will often act as a conduit between Octopus Ventures and the Octopus Group Centres of Excellence (in particular Funds Finance, Institutional Funds and Marketing).
Our ideal candidate will have experience in valuing private companies, be highly proficient with excel, have strong attention to detail and enjoy working with data. The individual will have a bias towards efficiency and structure and take pride in the quality of their work output. Finally, the individual will be comfortable interacting and presenting to senior stakeholders both within and outside the business.
Essential Job Functions
You will divide your time roughly, working on:
Portfolio Valuations
- Preparation of individual portfolio company valuations (alongside board representatives), typically on a bi-annual basis. This will include the oversight of collation of portfolio data and relevant market comparability, as well as justifications for each valuation.
- Preparation of materials required to support the valuation sign-off process.
- Liaise with board representatives, auditors & Funds Finance to resolve any queries.
Portfolio Data
- Be a core contributor to the portfolio data function within Octopus Ventures. Ensuring timely, accurate and efficient data collection and analysis on the individual portfolio companies, and continue to iterate and improve our capabilities in this area.
- Preparation, review and reconciliation of portfolio data on a quarterly basis.
- Preparation of a quarterly analysis on the portfolio health, to be used by key stakeholders both internally and externally.
- Coordination with Ventures Operations (including our Data Analyst) to automate collection and presentation of portfolio data.
Fund Performance
- Owning and maintaining track record data for all of our funds (working alongside OV Ops and Funds Finance).
- Preparation of regular analysis on fund performance and underlying drivers of this. This will include benchmarking against relevant peers.
Investor & Board Relations
- Supporting Funds Finance on the preparation of investor reports, primarily providing context on portfolio and drivers of fund performance.
- Supporting the Co-CEO's on preparation of presentations (alongside Marketing) to be used for fundraising, Annual General Meetings and Board meetings.
Qualifications
We know you have what it takes, if you have:
- Spent time working on valuations within private equity, venture capital or an alternative investment space.
- Experience in either financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, fund accounting, tax and compliance or audit.
- Superior Excel and Powerpoint skills.
You'll be a great fit for the team, if you are:
- A team player who wants to be part of a tight and ambitious team with shared values: - one team, be bold, be straightforward and be helpful.
- Naturally curious and passionate about the companies we invest in and the ecosystem they operate in.
- Somebody who enjoys liaising with different kinds of people, representing Ventures internally and externally.
- Result orientated and hands-on.
- Prepared to get involved in every aspect of fund management.
- Ambitious and take pride in your work.
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.
Additional Information
Our Values and DNA
At Octopus we don't just focus on what we do but also how we do it. Everyone shares our values of being straightforward, helpful and bold. And while these are the principles that guide us as an organisation, our DNA goes even further, by revealing our inner strengths:
- We are loyal: we fully buy-in to the company's vision and believe in everything that Octopus stands for.
- We are respectful: we live and breathe the Octopus values of being helpful, straightforward and bold.
- We are resilient: we have an inner strength that means we never give in.
- We are intellectually curious: we seek to understand how the world works and were always learning, adapting and improving.
- We understand who our customers are: and because we know them really well, we always give them our very best.
What we offer
Octopus has built an exciting and inclusive high-performance culture where employees feel empowered. This means we welcome discussions around flexible working hours. We also understand the value of diversity, and we have a team dedicated to promoting gender, ethnic, socio-economic, LGBT and disability equality, to make sure we back up our words with actions. All Octopus employees are given the opportunity to develop new skills, aim higher and accelerate their careers.
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