We are looking for an Investment Professional with a keen interest in enterprise software, deep tech and entrepreneurship, including domains such as cybersecurity, AI/ML, dev tools and open source to join our London investment team. We are trying to find this one amazing person that complements our UK Investment team. You will be working closely with Pratima, Carles and Theo. You will work alongside more senior investment team members on all things related to our portfolio companies, building new investment themes, getting involved in fund operations and collaborating with our teams in Germany and Spain. At Nauta, we are truly pan European with a team of 23 people distributed in three offices (Barcelona, London and Berlin) investing in Enterprise Software across Europe.
After your tenure at Nauta you will be a senior investment professional with strong business and technical foundations and a very valuable network in the industry. Whether you move up the ladder at Nauta, go to another VC, or decide to become an Entrepreneur, we will support you in your next steps and provide mentorship, advice and maybe funding for your next adventure.
In the past, our young talents have been quite successful after their tenures. Some have become partners at our firm, others have left to found their own VCs or have been poached by other VC firms (which we take as a compliment to our training). A few have decided to become Entrepreneurs. We supported and mentored them in their transition and funded their business together with our network of CEOs and angels.
Some of our thoughts below 👇🏻
A bit about our history:
Nauta Capital is a pan European Venture Capital firm founded fifteen years ago with €550m AUM and we hope that this is just the beginning. We are trying to build a Venture Capital firm that will outlive us. This means that we have to be constantly evolving, expanding our investment scope into new thematic areas, developing our geographic footprint and hiring new talent while making sure that we focus on the long term.
We have been investing in Enterprise Software since our foundation and, as a result, we have seen several cycles in the industry and reinvented our investment thesis a few times. Our first cohort of software investments were primarily On-Premise software that would be installed on a server, a desktop computer, or a laptop. The business models were mainly one-time sale of the license and a maintenance contract to keep the software up to date. We also did a number of consumer investments, some very successful. Some of our successful exits from these cohorts were Privalia ($600m), GreatCall ($400m) and Socialpoint ($250m).
Then Cloud Computing became a thing and we adapted and doubled down on B2B software. Our first SaaS investments were around 2010 although the lines are a bit blurry because some of our Enterprise Software companies deployed on private clouds before that. We currently have an active SaaS portfolio of around 36 companies. Some of the early exits from this phase are Brandwatch ($450m), PromoteIQ (undisclosed sale to Microsoft), Holded (undisclosed sale to Visma) and GetApp (undisclosed sale to Gartner). A few of our current portfolio companies looking particularly promising are Onna and Connected2Fiber.
Going forward, we see Cloud adoption continuing to accelerate thanks to the Cloud Native ecosystem of tools that allow for seamless hybrid deployments. We are also convinced that Open Source Software is an unstoppable trend that will infiltrate every instance of the Enterprise. We firmly believe that Open Source makes the world a better place by creating communities, democratizing access to software and speeding up the digital transformation. As a result, we have done 2 investments in OSS in 2021 alone (Kubermatic, Nhost) and we plan to do more going forward.
We are currently investing from our Fifth Fund of €190m. We plan to make around 35 investments in EU and UK from that fund, mostly series Seed and early A. We love being around entrepreneurs in the earliest stages and we feel particularly proud when they choose us to be their first investor in the company.
As part of the new fund, we will also invest £100-£250K in 16 pre-seed enterprise and deeptech companies through our Nauta Labs initiative. At pre-seed stage we have backed companies such as Boxy, Universal Quantum, Lupovis and Net AI.
Who we are looking for:
There are multiple paths and backgrounds that can lead to an Investment Professional position in VC. Below a few possibilities:
- You have a computer science background: That is a great start! If you have some experience in a startup or founded a company already, even better.
- You have a product background: You worked in or led product teams in a tech company. It could be in a startup, in a consultancy or in big tech. Your product experience can be super valuable in VC.
- You have a business background: Awesome! you got the basics already 👍 We would like to know more about your technical knowledge and passion for software.
- You have a Math/Physics/Biotech background: We have had good experiences with such profiles in the past.
- You founded a company regardless of the outcome and now you are looking to gain some experience in VC: Pretty cool, let’s have a chat.
- You have worked in investment banking/consulting: These are amazing places to get your first job, as you get lots of on-the-job training. We would love to chat more about your passion for VC.
What you will do day to day:
- Sourcing new early-stage investments and general dealflow management
- Evaluating new technologies, markets and business models. Identifying macro trends, conducting market research and developing new investment theses
- Conducting due diligence on investment opportunities. Preparing investment memos, updates and presentations
- Representing Nauta Capital at events and conferences
Additional Info:
We recognize that the last 22+ months have changed the way we work. At Nauta we have recognized the benefits that working from home have been able to offer. But at the core, our culture and business is built on having face-to-face interactions with the founders that we back and our colleagues. We are located in a beautiful penthouse office on Dean Street in the heart of soho with a view over London and a terrace. We currently have our teams coming into the office 3 days a week, with flexibility to choose their location of work for the other 2 days.
Our team gets together annually for a few days of relaxation, team building and comraderie. The last two annual trips were to Mallorca and Sitges.
We offer competitive compensation and flexible budgets for continuous learning.
Candidate profile
- Curious: A curious mind with distinctive and proven analytical abilities and great attention to detail.
- A passion for technology and software: Either as a developer or as a user we would like to find someone with a passion for tech.
- Opinionated yet humble: In our business we need to have opinions on things to be able to discuss them. At the same time, we change our mind constantly so it is necessary to be humble enough to change our views fast.
- Likes networking: The paths to generating dealflow are super diverse but many (still) come as a result of some sort of human interaction. A VC investment professional needs to be able to build and nurture a network of founders, VC peers and angels to exchange insights and dealflow. We are not opposed to cold pitch decks arriving and will evaluate them with equal rigour.
- Smart and fast learner: VC is a fast and ever-changing industry. Our investments are as well. We need to constantly adapt and learn. Being a fast learner is a super-power. We are looking for someone who is eager to learn, self-directed and autonomous
- Basic understanding of business: Solid understanding of key financial concepts and financial analysis.
- Candidates need to have UK working rights
If interested, please apply here.
