Senior Investment Associate at SCRA – Columbia, South Carolina

The SC Launch (SCL) Senior Investment Associate will be located in Columbia and is responsible for managing the early stages of our activities in sourcing new member company opportunities, initial engagement with applicants, and shepherding the Member Companies through the SCL program process. This position will lead many of the initial due diligence and assessment activities of the applicant and eventual member companies, working closely with SC Launch Investment Managers (IMs) and/or Program Managers (PMs) and assigned member companies to ensure alignment with Member Company’s growth and capital strategies, which may include SC Launch’s various grant and equity investment opportunities.

The Senior Investment Associate is expected to take a leadership role in: 1) helping the founder build a capital strategy and fundraising plan with an adequate data room for potential investors, and, 2) working with the appropriate regional and local entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs), providing suitable deal flow into the SCL pipeline of member company candidates and building a supportive ecosystem for the founders of our member companies. The SrIA will also be expected to execute SC Launch program’s operational processes, working closely with the SCRA Operations Manager and other SC Launch team members, such as Investment Managers and Program Managers.

Essential Functions:

• Leads the team in sourcing new startup companies that can serve as actionable deal flow consistent with SC Launch’s investment mandate.
• Takes a leadership role in representing SCRA and SC Launch at relevant events in support of regional and local startup ecosystems.
• Leads the membership review and assessment and grant opportunity review and assessment processes, ensuring well-defined milestones and key inflection points are highlighted.
• Leads the SCRA team for initial diligence process in support of potential investment opportunities as outlined in the member company’s capital plan, by assessing company management, analyzing market and financial data, develop capital modeling scenarios, conducting due diligence calls, and if necessary, preparing initial investment memos.
• Makes recommendations for potential investors and mentors in support of assigned companies.
• Ensures delivery of all relevant program materials and support elements to client companies in each stage of the process.
• Reviews pitch decks and conduct initial screening calls with entrepreneurs.
• Ensures relevant company data on member companies is accurately captured and presented.
• Manages tracking of prospective and existing member and portfolio companies, including investment metrics.
• Assists with company management to develop relevant company milestones and utilize relevant resources and grant programs to assist company to achieve these results.
• Reviews client company milestones for investment readiness and recommends actions leading to preparation for internal and external grant awards and possible direct investments from SC Launch, Inc., including preparation for companies entering investment due diligence, term sheet negotiations and funding, review of company financials, forecasts, valuations, and capitalization tables.
• Recommends Acceleration Grant funding to top candidates for SC Launch, Inc. investments and, as appropriate, ensures a smooth transition of appropriate grant recipients to investment managers.
• Supports member company founders in the pre-funding and post-funding stages for non-dilutive grant funding.
• Participates on due diligence teams for potential SC Launch Inc. equity investments in support of assigned investment manager.
• Participates in strategic planning on future funding needs including fund raising strategies in support of the investment managers.
• Coordinate, organize, prepare agendas, slide presentations, and support all weekly regional and SCL team review meetings.
• Provides suggestions for improvement to the SC Launch team and SCRA, taking responsibility to lead new, innovative ideas for improving SCRA.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in business, technology, and/or science with 6 or more years of business-related work experience in business, corporate, investment, or entrepreneurial settings.
• Ability to travel in-state principally and, if necessary, work some extended hours in support of program objectives.
• Strong experience with initial financial modeling and concise assessment of business risk and opportunity for translation into initial investment memos.
• Extensive experience working with entrepreneurial or start-up companies and conducting due diligence related to seed and early-stage investments.
• Experience in reviewing financial agreements, contracts, operating agreements, and other investment-related documents.
• Proven ability to multi-task and manage a diverse pool of concurrent assignments.
• Ability to make cogent and effective presentations related to analysis and assessment results.
• Strong interpersonal skills required to maintain relationships with a wide array of internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong competency in working with business-related computer applications including MS Office Suite and HubSpot.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, verbally and in writing.
• Experience and skill in writing business reports, preparing presentation materials, and some level of technical report writing.
• Business process mapping experience.
• Experience and knowledge of early-stage venture capital as well as the structuring of deals suitable for venture capital and/or corporate investors.
• Demonstrated experience in technology with a desire to learn.
• Experience with operational and/or fund-raising experience at a start-up or mid-sized company.