Innovations & CVC Specialist

Job Purpose:

The Investment Officer shall play a critical role in shaping deal flow and investment execution, spanning across deal sourcing, diligence, and portfolio building. You will work directly with the Group Director of Strategic Partnerships and the Investment Consultant(s) to drive investment operations and engage the venture ecosystem. This is a hands-on role for someone excited to grow in corporate venture capital, with exposure to the African startup ecosystem, corporate partners, and investment committee processes.

Key responsibilities:

• Deal Sourcing & Screening: Identify, research, and evaluate early-stage startups across Betalab’s core focus sectors. Conduct intro calls with founders and maintain pipeline tracking.
• Research & Thesis Development: Conduct market mapping, competitive analysis, and trend identification. Assist in shaping investment theses in collaboration with the Principal and GPs.
• Financial & Commercial Analysis: Build financial models, analyze data rooms, and assess unit economics, scalability, and competitive positioning.
• Investment Process Support: Draft and refine investment memos, prepare materials for the Investment Committee, provide administrative support such as pipeline tracking, data entry, and preparation of materials for the leadership, and coordinate diligence across technical, legal, and commercial efforts.
• Internal Contribution: Help codify best practices in pipeline management, reporting, and knowledge sharing as part of building a new investment platform from scratch.
• Operational Support: Provide support to the leadership on selected administrative and operational functions related to fund management, governance, and reporting.
• Value Creation: Support portfolio founders' post-investment by facilitating introductions, strategic partnerships, and access to Betalab’s corporate network.
• Ecosystem Engagement: Build and maintain strong relationships with founders, co-investors, accelerators, and corporate partners. Represent Betalab at key ecosystem events.

Knowledge, experience and qualifications required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, Actuarial Science, Economics, or a related business field.
• Preference for candidates with a degree with a focus on corporate finance and investments, complemented by professional qualifications in financial investments.
• Postgraduate qualification (MBA, relevant Masters, CFA, or equivalent) is a plus.
• 3-5 years full-time experience in strategy consulting, investment banking, corporate development, venture capital, or high-growth startups (BD, growth and/or strategy roles).
• Experience in the banking, financial services, and insurance industry is not mandatory but would be desired.
• Ability to articulate fund strategy, investment theses, and engage with the IC.
• Strong analytical and writing skills, with the ability to synthesize complex ideas into clear recommendations.
• Curious about technology and startups, with eagerness to learn new sectors quickly.
• Strong interpersonal skills and comfort engaging with founders and senior executives.
• Strong network and working experience in Africa and sector-relevant ecosystems.
• Familiar with CRM systems (like HubSpot) and research tools and databases (like Statista or Crunchbase)
• Commercial mindset with ability to spot opportunities, assess markets, and propose creative go-to-market or distribution strategies.
• Strong financial modelling skills in Excel/Google Sheets is desirable, but not compulsory.
• Proven track record of sourcing, evaluating, and/or executing early-stage investments.
• Bonus: Prior exposure to VC/PE deal flow and/or startup fundraising.