The Urban Innovation Fund is a venture capital firm that invests in startups shaping the future of cities. The Fund provides seed capital and regulatory support to startups tackling our toughest urban problems – helping them grow into tomorrow’s most valued companies.
ASSOCIATE Job Description
Location: San Francisco, CA / Remote
The Urban Innovation Fund sources top investment opportunities from across the US. We’re looking for an Associate to focus on sourcing the highest quality startups tackling urban problems. And we especially value a candidate who will help source geographically and demographically diverse founders. The Associate will be part of a small but energetic team, working closely with the General Partners (based in San Francisco).
The Associate should excel at working in an independent environment with a remote team. That said, we do value in-person engagement and, when safe and possible in the future, we will look for the entire team to work out of the San Francisco office part time. We’re looking for an energetic go-getter who wants to help build a best-in-class venture capital fund.
The primary functions of the Associate position include:
- Deal sourcing: This will form the most important part of the job (likely 60%+ of time), and include identifying, screening, and performing investment due diligence on urban innovation startups. Your focus will be on early stage opportunities – at the pre-seed and seed. In addition to responding to inbound entrepreneur inquiries, the Associate will be active in expanding the Urban Innovation Fund’s reach and network by participating in events, judging startup competitions, speaking on panels, making connections with other investors, etc. We value a go-getter that will be proactive in sourcing new opportunities and bringing or developing a unique network.
- Support to portfolio companies: The Associate will spearhead providing support services to our portfolio of startups. Currently, the fund has over 30 portfolio startups, and we anticipate doubling the portfolio size over the next few years. This will include organizing monthly check-in with the companies, supporting pitch deck prep for fundraising, financial modeling, etc.
- Events: On behalf of the Urban Innovation Fund, the Associate will attend and organize events to encourage urban-focused entrepreneurship. This will include judging and speaking at events and conferences relevant to startups, entrepreneurship, and urban innovation. Additionally, the Associate will be responsible for organizing quarterly events/ educational content to encourage engagement with early stage startups.
- Portfolio impact tracking: The Associate will help conduct an annual survey of all Urban Innovation Fund portfolio companies (evaluating both impact and business performance), as well as maintain the more frequent monthly updates around financial reporting for the startups.
- Articles and research: The Associate will research and author articles and blogs on urban innovation and other relevant topics. They will also support the research and authoring of articles and blogs by other Fund team members. There will be opportunities for shared bylines, when appropriate.
To apply, please send your resume and a brief cover letter to clara@urbaninnovationfund.com
