CatchLight Capital Partners is a specialist VC firm that uses capital to help US startups adjust to changing geopolitical realities. We were founded by two seasoned investors with deep industry experience from firms like ZhenFund, Warburg Pincus, Google, and McKinsey and named CatchLight because we are inspired by the speck of light reflected in the founders’ eyes.
Our goal at CatchLight is to focus on identifying special situations within venture-growth stage companies where we can gain unique access to high-quality assets at discounted prices to achieve outsized returns for our investors. We also pride in adding value to our portfolio companies, with restructuring companies’ cap tables in order to avoid any geopolitically induced compliance issues being our main specialty. CatchLight has recently closed its debut fund in record time amid a global pandemic and assesses numerous deals each week.
Role Description
We are seeking to hire a remote Associate Intern who is passionate about finding, researching, and supporting companies that are changing the world. We believe this is not only a terrific learning experience but also an important way of identifying future full-time team members. During your internship, you will be involved in:
Sourcing:
- Conducting market analysis and opportunity identification via academic research, customer interviews, conferences, incubator and demo days, and peers
- Proactively developing relationships with identified companies that align to our investment theses and scope
- Help manage the investment pipeline process
Diligence and Investment Execution:
- Support the team’s initial screening and subsequent deep due diligence of potential investments
- Support development of diligence materials and investment memos to assess market sizing, talent assessment, product-market fit, key metrics/financials, capital structure, valuation modeling and exit scenarios, risks, etc.
- Liaise with team members to support diligence checks (product, tech, and finance) and finalize investment execution (legal and finance)
Portfolio Company Operating Support:
- Support portfolio companies around product strategy, talent sourcing, business development, regional market, and global expansion and support for future financing
- Help gather and manage portfolio performance, metrics, and financials on a quarterly basis
Desired Skills and Experience
- Excitement to work with and help build a specialist VC by getting in at the “ground floor”
- Work experience in startups, venture capital, private equity, or investment banking with exposure to TMT
- Can-do attitude, willingness to learn, and deep dive to become an effective thought partner during meetings
- Motivated by making the world a better place through technology, and wanting to drive that through our works
- Thrive on ambiguity, setting own goals, and effectively delivering to them in a very fast-changing environment
- Genuine interest and high-level grasp of technology trends and business models
- Strong interpersonal skills, critical thinking, and an exceptional work ethic and discipline
- US citizenship
- Fluency in Mandarin a plus
Interested candidate should email a CV, LinkedIn profile, a 1-2 page investment thesis about a seed company, and a video introducing yourself, work hour availability, and why this opportunity interests you to josh@catchlightcap.com
