Acumen America is looking for a Portfolio Associate with 2 – 3 years of experience to support diligence, post investment and operations. Although we are not working in the office right now, candidates must be located in the Bay Area.
Acumen
Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders, and ideas. We invest patient capital in businesses whose products and services help people living in poverty to transform their lives. To date, Acumen has positively impacted 300 million lives by investing $132M in 136 innovative, early-stage companies in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States.
Acumen America
The Portfolio Associate will be joining a team building a portfolio of game-changing companies focused on tackling poverty in the United States. Since 2015, Acumen America has invested in 26 companies reaching over 69M low-income Americans. These companies are led by founders that reflect the diversity of the U.S.: 54% of companies were founded by BIPOC founders and 38% are led by founders that identify as women, and 80% of companies were founded outside of San Francisco and New York. In addition to our direct investing, we provide strategic support and resources to accelerate the impact of our portfolio. This post-investment support includes fundraising, communications, partnerships and other special projects that convene entrepreneurs, funders, corporations, policymakers and others addressing inequity. Acumen America is building a leading portfolio of early-stage entrepreneurs tackling poverty in the US. The organization is scaling quickly and this position is entrepreneurial; preferred candidates will be excited by a start-up environment.
Accountabilities
The Portfolio Associate will be accountable for supporting the deal cycle: source new investment opportunities, support diligence, help prepare analyses for Acumen’s Investment Committee, and support senior team members to structure deal terms. The Associate will play a central role in operations and supporting analyses of portfolio performance, and supporting fundraising and partnerships. This role reports to the Director of Portfolio and requires significant collaboration with the Portfolio Team. More specifically, you will be accountable for:
Investing
- Identify, cultivate, and review a pipeline of investment opportunities providing critical products and services to the poor in the United States, in collaboration with the portfolio team. Sourcing includes industry and trend research, as well as directing and proposing strategies that produce deal flow.
- Conduct due diligence and investment analysis, including financial modeling, valuation review, and transaction structuring.
- Prepare and maintain investment documentation for Acumen’s Investment Committee.
Operations
- Support team closing process on transactions
- Project manage weekly and quarterly pipeline and portfolio management process
- Oversee portfolio and impact data systems to ensure current accurate data on pipeline, portfolio, and portfolio impact
- Ensure accurate and timely data collection is entered in impact management system
Post-Investment
- Co-assess portfolio company needs post investment; propose interventions to senior team members
- Work with the Portfolio Team to analyze and document data-driven explanations for intervention decisions
Document and track key metrics to measure the social and financial returns - Extract and document investment-specific and portfolio-wide insights; analyze financial and impact metrics to identify valuable patterns or lessons learned; and package and share data for marketing and fundraising
- Actively support mid-year and Annual Review of portfolio
Skills And Qualifications
- 2-3 years of experience in venture capital, private equity, investment banking, or investment management; experience with financial and operational due diligence of early-stage businesses is a plus
- Bachelor’s Degree
- Superior financial, modeling and business analysis skills
- Project management experience
- Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to present analysis and arguments in a clear and succinct manner to Acumen
- management, partners and investees
- Can take initiative independently, can follow through, can deliver on a deadline
- Excellent relationship and interpersonal skills—courtesy, tact, patience
- Self reflective and aligned with Acumen values
- Permanently authorized to work in the U.S.
- Familiarity with the social enterprise and impact investing sectors; demonstrated commitment to serving the poor is preferred
Deadline:
Candidates are encouraged to apply early, as applications will be reviewed, and interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis.
If interested, please apply here.
