About Lionheart Ventures
Lionheart Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm whose primary investment area is at the intersection of mental health and psychedelics. As a team, we firmly believe these medicines have the potential to make a sweeping and positive impact on global consciousness, as well as our approach to healthcare at large. We are currently finishing deployment of our inaugural $25M fund, and to date have made over fifty investments into companies such as Calm, Reconnect Labs, Psylo, Journey Clinical TRIPP and Sanmai. We are now preparing to launch our second $50M+ mental health fund in Q2.
Lionheart was founded by David Langer, an experienced technology entrepreneur and angel investor. Prior to founding Lionheart, David was an angel investor in over 20 startups and founder & CEO at Zesty, a healthy corporate catering company acquired by Square in 2018. Shelby Clark, our second investing partner, is a repeat entrepreneur and angel investor, best known for founding Turo, the car-sharing marketplace that filed an S-1 in January 2022 for a multi-billion-dollar IPO. After leaving Turo, Shelby trained as a yoga and meditation teacher, after which he dedicated his career and resources to the field of mental health. Both David and Shelby care deeply about this work, and look forward to bringing on a third partner who is passionate about mental health and equally excited to aid in bringing psychedelic medicine into the zeitgeist and expanding global consciousness.
About The Role
As a partner, you will work alongside partners David Langer and Shelby Clark fundraising for and investing in our second fund ($50M+ target). We are specifically looking for a candidate with experience in the biotechnology industry and 4+ years minimum in biotech focused venture capital. This candidate must have the technical background to understand the stages of clinical drug development, and the investment chops to identify and vet the most promising investment deals within the space.
This partner role is unique in that it will function more as a cofounder of our second mental health fund than a typical VC partner, having direct impact and decision making authority over the fund at large alongside our managing partner. The right candidate will be willing - and hungry - to take true ownership over fund strategy and execution. This partner will sit alongside an exceptional leadership team and play a role in helping shape the firm’s overall vision and strategic business plans as it continues to scale in both AUM and team size. This candidate will be uniquely qualified for this role with a network and background in biotech VC, fundraising experience, and true passion for mental health, psychedelics and neurotech.
Responsibilities:
● Source and evaluate investment opportunities in the mental health, neurotech and psychedelic medicine spaces; conduct due diligence on potential investments including market research, financial analysis, competitive landscape assessment, business plans and organizational health
● Play a major role in fundraising efforts and supporting the growth of the fund; build relationships with existing and potential limited partners
● Provide strategic guidance and support to existing and new portfolio companies to help them achieve their business objectives
● Build and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders in biotech, pharma and the psychedelic medicine ecosystem, including industry experts, researchers, and entrepreneurs
● Host fundraising events and represent the firm at industry events and conferences
● Develop and implement risk management strategies to mitigate investment risks
● Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies
● As applicable, work on exit strategies for portfolio companies including potentialmergers, acquisitions or IPOs
● Provide regular updates to firm’s partners and various stakeholders
Requirements:
● 5+ years of experience in pharmaceutical drug development with experience of all stages of clinical development
● 4+ years of biotech focused VC experience
● Ideally an advanced degree in a scientific field, or at least a strong competence reading,analyzing, and understanding technical scientific journals and articles
● Demonstrated ability to identify, evaluate, and execute investments in early-stagecompanies
● Deep expertise in the mental health and psychedelic medicine space, with a strongunderstanding of the latest scientific and clinical developments
● Expertise or willingness to develop expertise in neurotech, keeping up with the latestscientific and clinical developments
● Strong analytical skills and attention to detail, with the ability to conduct rigorousscientific, business, legal, and IP due diligence
● Able to articulate complex investment strategies and insights
● Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationshipswith entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts
● Ability to effectively convey fund’s value proposition to potential limited partners
● Possesses exceptional written communication skills
● A passion for driving innovation in the mental health and psychedelic medicine space
● Ability to adapt to changing market conditions and investment landscapes
● Collaborative team player
Benefits [full-time employees only]:
● Ownership via a significant percentage of carried interest in the fund as one of only two full-time partners responsible for launching and running the fund
● Competitive base salary with increasingly high earning potential YoY as fund AUM grows
● Comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage
● Flexible remote work policy, with in person team meetings several times per year in Costa Rica and U.S.
● Unlimited and flexible PTO policy
● Opportunity to contribute to one of the most impactful funds globally at an early stagewith a mission driven team that believes deeply in the power of psychedelic medicines to make sweeping impacts across global healthcare
Lionheart Ventures is an equal opportunity employer.