Head of External ventures and VC relations US

Head of External ventures and VC relations US

Leveraging a far-reaching network with US Deeptech VC firms and Deeptech US venturing ecosystem, the Head of external ventures and VC relations US plays a pivotal role in engaging the US Venturing ecosystem with imec’s venturing ecosystem. The main purpose of the function is to drive profitability of imec venturing activities and facilitate scaling up of imec deeptech ventures. A first lever will be to drive US deeptech VCs to participate in or lead financing rounds of imec ventures, driving solid valuation upticks. A second key lever will be to identify promising external early stage ventures in which imec can get an equity position or equivalent compensation for collaboration projects with those companies, ensuring imec benefits directly from the success of partner companies.

Beyond those key accountabilities, the Head of external ventures and VC relations will leverage his network and competencies to support the broader imec venturing organization globally.

Key responsibilities:

-       Develop imec venturing relationship with relevant US Deeptech VCs – aiming to have them invest in imec ventures, in the US in first instance and in Europe in the longer run.

o   Grow the number of VCs engaging with imec and drive relationship.

o   Propose and implement supporting activities required to drive local VC engagement

o   Expose US VCs to imec venture deals and support fundraise discussion as appropriate

o   Ensure VCs eventually participate to or lead imec ventures financing rounds.

-       External deal flow:

o   Ensure exposure to early stage deal-flow of key relevant VCs

o   Identify early stage ventures where imec can have a substantial contribution in terms of background IP, joint research projects, development on demand projects or services (design services, processing services)

o   Liaise with HQ venturing team to define the contents of the collaboration with external ventures

o   Drive deal negotiation and contract closure for external ventures, optimizing imec’s interest in the target company’s long-term upside, preferably in the form of equity for imec – with possibly a royalties component.

o   Co-shape imec offering and financial mechanisms to support and drive external deal-flow in an actionable manner.

Supporting activities:

-       Support Head of venturing acceleration and ecosystem US by providing introduction to talent, experts, VCs, venture creation and development hubs, engagement with selected target customers and ecosystem players as suitable for imec ventures

-       Contribute to imec venturing’s visibility and brand in the US: present imec venturing activities in selected venturing events in the US: promote imec’s venturing approach in dedicated press and for a, contribute to positioning white papers on deeptech venturing and imec’s role

-       Support imec spinoff creation by contributing to review of imec spinoff projects in relevant expertise areas.

Reports to Global head venturing – imec HQ