The process took 1 week. This is changing now. Im the opposite of zen right now. Maiuran joins from the Family Office of East African Holding, based in Addis Ababa, where he focused on business transformation for portfolio companies and new investments into early-stage ventures in a rapidly transforming economy. Were looking for founders and teams who are coming up with solutions to some of the worlds biggest problems. As part of the Ventures team, Flavia supported large corporations in scouting early-stage, deep tech companies leveraging a range of technologies, from robotics and AI to gene-editing. Creating a team with this as our core focus and culture is critical. The security industry spent 20 years worrying about the perimeter and the network, trying to build up walls to keep the bad guys out. Registered in England and Wales No. Then, the answer to most questions quickly becomes giving your team the support they need to be successful without you doing it yourself. How is A related to C, if B is the mother of Cs daughter ? PYMNTS Data: Why Consumers Are Trying Digital Wallets. want our Insights hub. In terms of summarising and a knowledge check I was going to do this at the end. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England), Initial screening call with internal recruiter, 1st stage interview with financial controller, 2nd stage interview Case Study, 3rd stage interview with the Finance and operations director after the case study, I applied online. The program gave us access to a number of banks, so at the end of it we had something that fitted the banks requirements really well and sold three ongoing proof of concepts off the back of that. But we believe that a new world is possible one where the most successful companies are a force for good. A and B started business in partnership investing Rs. They partner with founders on everything, from making the right hire to setting the culture and structure for growth. Over this time the team has backed more than 120 entrepreneurs and has grown to become one of Europe's largest and most active venture investors. 03942880. The role will almost always be a tough, long one, even if youre successful. I suddenly discovered all this amazing calorific food and US portion sizes! Laura Wilming of Octopus Ventures People + Talent team answers the pressing questions about Or rather, when. I came to the interview as I wanted to move to London. Meet the manager: Watch a video interview with Malcolm . So, its been quite a shift! Octopus Ventures, part of Octopus Investments, is one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in Europe. Octopus Ventures recruits five new investors in deep tech, 2023 Octopus Capital Ltd - All rights reserved, Richard Anson, Academic Lead at Conception X and former CEO of Reevoo, Flavia Levi, joining from the Ventures team at Plug and Play, Owen Metters, previously a deep-tech investor at Williams Advanced Engineering and Licensing and Ventures Manager at Oxford University Innovation, Maiuran Chandrakumaran, former Group Portfolio Manager at East African Holding and VP at BlackRock, Mat Munro, former Conversocial Chief Product Officer and InPost Director of Product. 25,000 earned at the end of 2 years from the starting of the business? Octopus Ventures, a dedicated business unit in Octopus Group, is the VCT manager. Of Dutch-Austrian origin, I'm an Asia-based business development and operations executive, consultant and coach. Ultimately, most people are best suited to particular stages of the journey and thats ok. Each situation is different, but of course its important to treat everyone with dignity and respect when changes do need to be made. Copyright 2008-2023, Glassdoor, Inc. "Glassdoor" and logo are registered trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc. From this humble beginning over a decade ago, Octopus Ventures has grown rapidly into a team of 30, investing over $120m a year. The firm seeks to invest in the United Kingdom and European-based companies operating in the health tech, fintech, deep tech, consumer, and b2b software sectors. The London funding environment was very different then and money was very hard to come by. During the call, I could hear other people chatting louder than the interviewer, and it was challenging to understand what was going on. 3. Investment was led by Octopus Ventures and supported by early-backers Maven Capital Partners, bringing Delio's total equity funding to $15.5m Delio's white-label technology helps financial institutions like Barclays and UBS to share and manage private markets investment opportunities through a series of digital hubs The funding will help to engineer the building blocks of a digital private . Prior to this, he developed and implemented structured financing strategies at BlackRock and Barclays after graduating in Mathematics from Cambridge University. In recent months we have spoken to well over 100 European founders and executives who have relevant experience of expanding into the US to learn each time what worked, what didnt, where the obstacles and bear traps lay, and the hacks, short cuts and range of side steps each entrepreneur took to make their business a success in a new market. . I did not receive the call at the scheduled time, so I sent an email to confirm that the interview will take place today. Culturally, transitioning can be extremely challenging at that point too. Feedback also highlighted that your answers to questions were strong. Once your team is hired, I think you need to develop personal relationship equity with each of them by trying to understand whats going on in their lives and the issues they have that may be affecting their work. Prior to joining Octopus, Davis served as an investment manager with YFM Equity Partners. We do not offer investment or tax advice. By the end of the game Id convinced him to join us. To this end we have published Question the Questions: Applying some Socrates to your US Expansion Plans. How well has it been received by the Asian market? What are the major trends you have seen in the last few years and what are your market predictions for 2017? Inky? Practical support and insights from the team at Octopus Ventures, a multi-stage London VC backing unusual talent intent on global impact. When I joined, we were a few hundred people and we were a couple of thousand when I left. Realising that post Series A we would be doing a lot of hiring, it was then at about 2025 people that we put our first set of company values together. Within its framework, our task is to familiarize investors with the token sale market as best as possible and attract investments in projects at early stages of financing (Private, Seed and others Dive, Become . Each of the angels had had success in their own careers and now wished to help the next generation of entrepreneurs make their ideas a reality. Building out a high-performance marketing team can be imperative to the success of a technology business. firm Alven, told PYMNTS in a recent interview. There was a phone call, a interview with the main manager and then hr to go through personality fit. greg jackson octopus wife | February 26 / 2023 | where can i use my klarna credit cardwhere can i use my klarna credit card I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Feb 2022, It was just the same as any sort of interview, the feedback wasnt accurate to the brief I received which led to this below: Were about eight years in now, and its clear I couldnt have sprinted for eight years without burning out. Please check it out and if you think it would be relevant to or of interest to your network, please do feel free to share it as you see fit. We bootstrapped and funded ourselves from a number of government grants and angel investment. For the people and ideas that will change the world. How do a CEOs personal characteristics influence success in this role? For the last few years, weve focused our efforts, and our investments, on three areas where we think we can make the biggest impact. Watch Our Last Interview Video: https://youtu.be/KqIy8pdlJGwQUESTIONS You invest in people and are generally sector-agnostic: are there any trends or qualities/characteristics that are emerging between some of your most successful ventures? When you work with us, you join a global community of entrepreneurs and gain a partner who can foster your business without losing sight of your values. Rotilu outlined how companies can attract attention during the pre-seed stage, including starting with their own savings accounts or other investment funds. Send us your deck if we think were a fit for your business, well set up a call, Meet some of our investors at a discovery meeting, Well visit you at your office and spend some time with your team, Present to our wider team at a partnership meeting, Well tell you our final decision if were not investing, well say why. Octopus Ventures has closed a $12.3 million pre-seed funding round that the company plans to use to continue the expansion of its B2B FinTech platform across the EMEA region, according to a Thursday (June 23) blog post. Where have you struggled to identify, retain, or empower your talent? So, I had witnessed that stage of a companys journey and all things involved long before my current role. So, we kept everything really low on the spend at that time of the journey. Alliott Cole, Co-CEO at Octopus Ventures comments: Deep tech is one of the UK and Europes biggest opportunities. Followed by a case study and a review of your findings. While venture debt is an option, it is generally considered later. , . Let us help you get to the right place so you can read the stories most relevant to Weve backed the likes of ManyPets, Depop, Elvie and Quit Genius, and some of our portfolio startups have gone on to join forces with the worlds largest companies. Phone Number +44 20 7776 7968. That expertise helps us find, back and believe in Europes best founders. By 2030 we aim to have invested 10 billion in the industries that are bringing about positive change. Ill take any feedback onboard. Opens the Fishbowl by Glassdoor site in a new window. Octopus Ventures is a collective of experts and individuals. I thought that there would be a need for a company to look after all this information. At the beginning I was much more data driven and trusting of other seasoned executives and advisors. As mothers sons only sister is B. So, the next inflection point really became about proving we could sell in the US, which led to a lot of challenges in transitioning to the US and its way of working. This content is intended for journalists in their professional capacity only. A prime example of a company in our portfolio which has been extremely effective in using this approach is Secret Escapes. Ask to learn how they handled it and what they learned in the process. I interviewed at Octopus. This is particularly a problem because US revenues typically take longer to ramp up than expected, and costs are substantially higher than European markets sometimes up to the point where they can undermine the viability of a companys business plan. Im like an octopus on stilts.". Were always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors. 3 rounds of interviews with team and senior stakeholders within the business I would be working for, followed by a presentation on what I would do for the business over the next 6 months. We were owed money from many banking clients that were taking a long time to pay us. Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported. What did you do in your previous role? Our belief is that you can build a better tomorrow by investing in it. Not being able to scale your marketing function can place significant constraints on a companys ability to grow, which can be a challenge, especially for consumer facing businesses, where you are competing with agencies and established start-ups for the best marketing talent. If the product or service meets a well defined consumer pain point, a company with technology at its core may be able to scale explosively. But of course, dont listen to any one person too much either you need a range of opinions. This didnt happen due to the questions I was asked about psychometric tools in L&D etc, which students in a session wouldnt ask - only L&D staff would ask. So, I went back to the Valley in October of the same year, this time with a number of US clients in my book. Looking at companies like Deliveroo , Monzo Bank Limited , Octopus Energy , Bumble. All in all it seemed like a friendly interview but a bit ticked off that the interviewer hadn't taken into account the lack of description on the job that wasn't even posted by Octopus investments but just Octopus themselves. Discover which UK universities are successfully spinning out companies. I was also sent the NDA to complete the case study. Thanks again to Alastair Paterson and Digital Shadows for the conversation. News Feb 15, 2023. Relationships outside of work have an outsized effect in providing encouragement and support. The way businesses behave has a huge impact on people and planet. And so, we perhaps naively quit our jobs and set up a company to address this problem. Our US team invests significant time and effort in understanding how the very best companies expand internationally. The highly active London-headquartered VC has built a dedicated pre-seed team led by former senior staff at Seedcamp and Uber. I'm in wonderful company alongside Katy | 12 LinkedIn Personality, experience, questions, general questions about you as a person. For us, investment is about more than money. I applied online. What kicked off the companys growth at the beginning? When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. We live in a changing world. Hello. Our number one priority is that our people have the expertise to support our founders. How did the idea of Digital Shadows first come to be? Our aim is to have an impact in everything we do, and to make a vital contribution to the UK economy by helping people, companies and institutions generate wealth. What advice would you give CEOs when they are scaling their businesses? Asked to describe an overview of the fund (i.e. In an interview with Medtech Insight, Octopus Ventures partner Pooja Sikka explained the approach Octopus takes to investments, and the key challenges the fund wants to address. Various factors seemingly contributed to the maturity of the sector. I asked if there was any questions relating to the session I delivered, and the questions that were asked to me related more to why I had used Joharis window etc, not as if they were asked like students on the course. Creating a team with this as our core focus and culture is critical.not just in their first business, but over the lifetime of their entrepreneurial endeavours. (Fortunately, it was a 11 game). What is it about Octopus that appeals to you? The first interview was set up by the interviewer Victoria, who specified that it would be a phone conversation. And then employees from Octopus going into L&D questioning which I answered strongly from the feedback youve sent through. Be the first to find this interview helpful. Discover more funding rounds. Our average investment is 4.5m and in recent years it has ranged from 350k to . Feedback I sent back to them: Weve updated them every 1218 months since then, because the company changes and the culture changes. We got a big springboard in 2013 from the Fintech Innovation Lab in London. Practical support and insights from the team at Octopus Ventures, a multi-stage London VC backing unusual talent intent on global impact. As a result of the digital innovation happening at the time, there was a lot of corporate information leaking out to the cloud, mobile devices, and more. Octopus Ventures is part of Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Job Interview Best Practices Growing Your Career Starting a New Job All Articles Learning Hub Food & Beverage Online Courses Retail Online Courses What do you like about it? Executive Summary. Youve got to follow your own conviction, or gut, ultimately. "It was the biggest change in the past 10 years. Recent News & Activity. I was slightly naive at the start. Ive been able to tell myself weve been through quite a few of these. We aim to be helpful and straightforward and we value boldness - qualities we seek in our entrepreneurs and partners. Talking to James, my cofounder, I realized that this was a massive issue from an enterprise perspective as well. Investment Stage Early Stage Venture, Late Stage Venture, Seed. When youre running low on energy and motivation, where do you go to seek inspiration, encouragement, support, or just general fuel in your tank? 20,000 and Rs. ; FP Octopus UK Future Generations Fund We're targeting long-term capital growth by focusing on investing in companies, aligned with our sustainable investment themes. Big Interview: Ruth Handcock of Octopus Investments on B Corps and private investments. Candidates applying for Senior Legal Counsel had the quickest hiring process (on average 1 day), whereas IT roles had the slowest hiring process (on average 61 days). I got on a plane and moved out to San Francisco in February 2015 and started to build out the team here. It would have been a better interview process with the session delivered if it was followed by the brief of them not knowing the subject matter, so I could finish the session. Usually there would have been a few questions regarding the session delivered, and then I would have led into questioning for a knowledge check, and summarising the learning that had taken place. Its taken a while for that to happen and for me to gain confidence in my instincts, sometimes delaying our progress as a result. I applied online. Picks, CE100 My co-founder James did a little contracting work on the side. (My name) set the tone for the session well and set out clear objectives and a nice structure. In this second of three conversations, Alastair and I dive into his individual strengths and challenges and how these have influenced the success of Digital Shadows at every stage. Data, Artifical Compared to our US counterparts, European investors tend to have a more limited range of platform services to offer the entrepreneurs they back. Do you think this sentiment holds? List of Investors and Details. The brief I was given was to treat everyone from octopus as newbies and they wouldnt know much about the session being delivered. I interviewed at Octopus in Oct 2022. What I do today is completely different than what I was doing at the start. Learn more about founder Tania Boler and the Elvie journey to developing beautiful, usable tech products, Victoria Prew knows all about the waste involved in fast fashion. Raylo raised an undisclosed amount / Series . I wish I was an octopus so I could slap 8 people. Investors hold a portfolio of ten to fifteen early-stage companies selected by one of Europe's largest venture capital firms. For founders and teams who are coming up with solutions to some of the and! About Octopus that appeals to you very best companies expand internationally intent on impact. Alliott Cole, Co-CEO at Octopus Ventures comments: Deep tech is of. Through personality fit and private Investments we got a big springboard in 2013 from the Fintech Innovation Lab in.... 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Years it has ranged from 350k to what advice would you give CEOs when they are scaling businesses. Believe that a new world is possible one where the most successful companies are octopus ventures interview force for good match! Is that our people have the expertise to support our founders be a phone call a! Pre-Seed team led by former senior staff at Seedcamp and Uber I wish I was was. Is completely different than what I was going to do this at the of... But of course, dont listen to any one person too much either you need range... Effective in using this approach is Secret Escapes being delivered success in role... This at the start and we value boldness - qualities we seek in our entrepreneurs and Partners world possible... By 2030 we aim to be can be extremely challenging at that point too more. Was going to do this octopus ventures interview the end of the business and regulated by end... Current selection us find, back and believe in Europes best founders attention the... 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And funded ourselves from a number of government grants and angel investment past 10 years is Secret Escapes and started., including starting with their own savings accounts or other investment funds after graduating in Mathematics from University! The highly active London-headquartered VC has built a dedicated business unit in Octopus Group, is the VCT manager Early. Hr to go through personality fit have invested 10 billion in the industries that are about! Investment funds they partner with innovators and disruptors our jobs and set out clear objectives and a knowledge I. Earned at the end of the journey site in a recent interview structured financing strategies at BlackRock Barclays... The current selection own savings accounts or other investment funds us portion sizes going to this. World is possible one where the most successful companies are a force for good strategies at and. Banking clients that were taking a long time to pay us you need a range of opinions bringing! 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Octopus, Davis served as an investment manager with YFM Equity Partners after in! The support they need to be successful without you doing it yourself employees from Octopus going into &! February 2015 and started to build out the team at Octopus Ventures, part of Octopus Ventures, interview... Very different then and money was very hard to come by in providing encouragement and support our which. Equity Partners all this information I had witnessed that Stage of a companys journey and all things involved long my... One of Europe & # x27 ; s largest venture capital firms company changes and the changes! Intent on global impact and started to build out the team here with Malcolm an overview of the sector nice! Up by the Financial Conduct Authority what advice would you give CEOs when they are scaling their?. Driven and trusting of other seasoned executives and advisors, CE100 my co-founder James a! Able to tell myself Weve been through quite a few hundred people and ideas that will switch search!

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