Investment Associate

Misumi Ventures · San Francisco Bay Area · Full-time

The fund

Misumi Ventures is a $50 million early-stage fund investing at the intersection of frontier hardware, robotics, automation and industrial AI.

We will build a portfolio of 20 to 30 seed and early-stage companies. Our thesis is specific. Hardware companies rarely fail because the idea was wrong — they fail in the gap between a working prototype and repeatable volume production. Our portfolio companies get direct access to MISUMI's manufacturing continuum: more than 30 million standard parts, 22 company-owned factories, 4,000 sourcing partners, and a five-region network across the Americas, China, Asia, Europe and Japan. That is what we put on a cap table alongside the check.

The role

Misumi Ventures is newly launched. Our founding partners hold operating responsibilities within MISUMI Americas, which means the Investment Associate will be the fund's first dedicated full-time investment professional.

The scope is correspondingly broad. You will build our deal funnel, own how the fund presents itself to founders and co-investors, support diligence and portfolio companies, and run the reporting cadence to our LP. You will report to the Managing Partner and participate in investment discussions.

This is not a narrow deal seat, and we want to be direct about that before you apply.

Responsibilities

Sourcing and co-investor relationships

Our deal flow depends on being present in the pipelines of the firms that do lead. You will build and maintain relationships with investors across our sectors, work the accelerator and university research channels that produce frontier hardware companies, and keep a current map of who is funding what in robotics, automation, aerospace, and industrial software. You will run first meetings and write the memo that determines whether a partner takes a second.

Fund positioning and ecosystem presence

Founders and co-investors distinguish between a fund and a corporate development budget, and our credibility depends on being clearly understood as the former. You will own our external presence — website, content, founder-facing communications, and our participation in the deep-tech and hardware communities — and run the founder dinners, technical sessions and events that make us a known quantity in our categories.

Diligence and portfolio support

Technical and commercial diligence: customer references, expert calls, competitive and supply chain analysis, market sizing. Post-investment, you will connect portfolio companies into MISUMI's engineering and sourcing organization and support them through recruiting, customer introductions and subsequent financings.

Fund operations and LP reporting

Quarterly reporting to the LP, working with our fund administrator and the finance organization at MISUMI Americas. Portfolio and pipeline reporting for the investment committee. Ownership of the CRM and our data discipline.

Requirements

• Two to four years in venture capital, investment banking, management consulting, corporate development, or an operating role at a hardware or deep-tech company

• Demonstrated technical fluency in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, robotics, manufacturing or a related field highly preferred. You will be evaluating physical products and you need to be credible with the engineers building them

• Strong written communication. Memos, market analysis, and LP reporting constitute a large share of the work

• Established relationships in the venture, engineering or founder community a strong plus, or a clear plan for building them

• Comfort operating without an existing playbook, at a fund making its first investments

Preferred

• Prior exposure to hardware, robotics, aerospace, medtech or industrial automation, whether as an investor, engineer or operator

• Familiarity with manufacturing, supply chain or design-for-manufacturing

Compensation

• Base salary - $125K - $150K depending on experience
• Carried interest in the fund
• Health, dental, and vision coverage; 401(k)

Our partners have committed to market-standard economics for the fund, and that extends to the investment team.