VC Associate @ S2G Ventures in Chicago, IL

S2G Ventures in Chicago, IL is seeking a VC Associate to support their climate-oriented investment fund. The role involves evaluating investment opportunities, managing portfolio companies, and collaborating with senior team members. Associates will gain experience in due diligence, research, and investment execution across various sectors, including food, agriculture, and clean energy. The position offers a chance to influence the fund's development while promoting sustainability.
We are looking for highly motivated and talented individuals to join one of the leading private investment firms committed to sustainability and climate action. S2G Ventures is looking for an Associate to play a key role in our newly formed fund focused on climate-oriented credit and infrastructure investing. As a member of the investment team, Associates spend their time on new investment opportunities, portfolio company management, and internal firm operations. As an Associate you will get experience in evaluating new investments and learning, from the ground-up, how a climate focused investor identifies, evaluates, and executes investments in a diverse set of companies and projects. Associates will have the opportunity to work closely with senior members of the firm and to have extensive interaction with management teams and external advisors.

Associates are responsible for supporting the due diligence and research efforts of a deal team and will work with portfolio company executives (CEOs, COOs, etc.) to employ S2G’s investment and operating model to drive investor returns and impact. Over the course of the role, you will evaluate hundreds of investment opportunities, gain strong industry and business model expertise, and develop your abilities as a private markets investor.

This Associate role will support the efforts of S2G’s Special Opportunities Fund, a $300 million commitment to invest in asset-oriented climate solutions across S2G’s themes including food and agriculture, clean energy, and oceans. The Special Opportunities team invests in credit, project finance, structured equity, and hybrid investments with a focus on deploying existing climate technologies. The Special Opportunities existing portfolio spans renewable energy development, organic agriculture, energy efficiency, sustainable water and maritime transportation, the circular economy, and controlled environment agriculture. This individual will have the unique opportunity to join a fund in its formative days and influence the long-term trajectory of the fund while benefiting from the infrastructure and expertise of the S2G platform.

About S2G Ventures

S2G Ventures is a direct investor in solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges across the food, agriculture, oceans, and clean energy markets. We provide capital, mentorship, and value-added resources to entrepreneurs pursuing innovative market-based solutions that generate positive social, environmental, and financial returns. We provide our partners with flexible capital solutions that can range from seed and venture funding through growth equity to debt and infrastructure financing. S2G Ventures is the direct investment team of Builders Vision, an impact platform dedicated to building a more humane and healthy planet. For more information about S2G, visit s2gventures.com, tune-in to our podcast, or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Our vision is “a humane and healthy planet,” which we relentlessly pursue and advance through our mission, “shifting markets and minds for good.”

Diversity, equity, inclusion and justice are at the core of our mission to shift markets and minds for good. We believe the change we want to see toward a humane and healthy planet starts with us. We understand that diversity, equity, inclusion and justice are long-term commitments, and while we aspire to be a catalyst for change, our journey starts from within. We are committed to learning from others and doing the work to become a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and just organization, and will seek to promote those same values in the world around us. We know that a diverse workforce allows everyone to see problems in more nuanced ways, creating the thought leadership needed to achieve the organization’s mission. We actively seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we welcome people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.

Key responsibilities Include:

The position is designed for an individual who is interested in expanding their knowledge of asset-based investing, project finance, credit, and broader structured solutions within the climate arena. Responsibilities will revolve around three primary types of work:
• New Investment Evaluation and Underwriting – Associates will work with deal teams to help source and evaluate investment opportunities, research industry dynamics, develop sectoral theses, analyze complex data sets to identify crucial financial and business information, and support the execution of transactions. Candidate needs to be proficient in financial modeling, ideally with credit or project finance experience, and able to build a financial model based on particular assumptions.
• Portfolio Management – Associates will work with deal teams to help manage portfolio company reporting, oversight, and operations. Associates will work directly with management teams to help implement industry best practices in a variety of areas (examples include financial reporting, capital raising, exit planning, etc.).
• Firm Operations – Associates will work across the firm and have responsibility around reporting and valuation modeling, industry and company data collection and tracking, CEO summits and working with external service providers.

Qualifications
• S2G as an organization is focused first on culture – how you engage is as important as the skills that you bring to the role
• Strong analytical and financial abilities with well-developed Excel and PowerPoint skills – project finance and financial modeling skills are a particular focus with this role
• Detail orientation and meticulousness with an appreciation for timeliness, accuracy of data, and ability to synthesize and clearly communicate findings and analyses
• Demonstrates intellectual curiosity and proven ability to quickly learn new concepts and understand key drivers of new industries, sectors, and trends
• Approximately 3 years of experience with exposure to investing, for instance, energy investment firm, equity research, project finance, commercial credit/lending or private debt, asset management, or investment banking
• Self-starter with a track record of going above and beyond what is asked
• An ability to build and maintain good relationships with colleagues, partners and entrepreneurs
• Identifies as a team player, believing fundamentally that we is greater than I
• Exhibits comfort with ambiguity and an ability to be flexible, which includes aptitude for managing multiple work streams, team priorities, and projects concurrently in a dynamic environment
• Possesses a high level of self-awareness and humility, with excitement about confronting uncomfortable situations or new challenges