VC Associate @ DRW in Chicago, IL

DRW

DRW Venture Capital is a private investor in financial and enterprise technology. Our team focuses on businesses that will benefit from DRW firm engagement beyond capital: as a client, as a liquidity provider, through our review of new products, and through our deep industry expertise in financial services. We invest in companies across venture capital and growth and are stage agnostic, providing a unique opportunity to make an impact across the value chain of private company investing, and are looking for an Associate to join our team. The ideal candidate will have familiarity with the fintech sector (broader financial services, capital markets, institutional crypto infrastructure, etc.), a strong investment and interpersonal skillset and will be expected to contribute to and lead process together with our team, portfolio companies, pipeline opportunities and co-investors. Our portfolio today includes 25+ companies including Ninja, Bitgo, Pico and TradingView.

The Associate will be expected to hit the ground running within our small team to add value and plug into our investment process. The role requires a strong sense of self-motivation, quantitative skills, proactivity, communication skills and good process. You will play a pivotal role in the evaluation of new opportunities and in the ongoing performance monitoring of the entire portfolio and have the opportunity to regularly interact with portfolio company senior management teams and co-investors.

In this role you’ll…

  • Contribute to a team and organization that has been leading innovation in technology and financial markets for 25+ years
  • Play a critical role within an established platform, leveraging DRW’s position as a major market participant and technology innovator to screen and evaluate new opportunities, process live transactions, and add value to existing portfolio companies
  • Perform a critical role in forming research and leading work-product to help inform investment decisions

What you’ll do in this role…

  • Financial Analysis: Prepare and review team work-product, including valuations for current and pipeline opportunities including DCF, public and private comparables and transaction analysis, in addition to waterfall analysis
  • Industry Research: Contribute strong baseline knowledge of the financial services space to help prepare and review analysis and research presentations for the group
  • Deal Structuring: Assist with deal structuring and the evaluation of term sheets, model economic impact
  • Diligence: Prepare and present investment memos and pitch decks for new and follow-on investments based on fundamental analysis and market research
  • Value Creation: Support portfolio company management teams to develop corporate strategy, evaluate M&A opportunities, assess new business lines, and other projects as needed
  • Market Connectivity: Develop and maintain relationships with ecosystem participants including co-investors, bankers and companies
  • Portfolio Monitoring: Monitor current investments and track key metrics and company performance

You will be right at home if you have…

  • 2-3 years of experience in Investment Banking, Consulting or Finance
  • A strong passion for investing and evaluating investment opportunities both quantitatively and qualitatively, high level of proficiency in PowerPoint to distill information / key concepts into presentation format
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Excellent communication and relationship building skills
  • A strong sense of urgency and self-motivation to work autonomously
  • Deep understanding of valuation and modeling (LBOs, liquidation waterfalls, cap tables, DCF, etc.) and a high level of proficiency in Excel to complete this work accurately
  • Limitless curiosity about business models and understanding of how companies make money
  • An interest in the fintech investment category and in gaining exposure to companies across that landscape including cryptocurrency, trading platforms, data businesses and technology companies
  • A Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business or related field

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