Oxford Seed Fund - Team Applications

What is the Oxford Seed Fund?

The Oxford Seed Fund (OSF) is the University of Oxford's student-and-alumni led venture capital fund, housed in Saïd Business School and powered by The Entrepreneurship Centre.
OSF invests into early-stage startups where an Oxford student, alumni or academic staff is part of the founding team. Founded in 2012, the latest iteration of the fund has £2.5M to deploy in cheques up to £100k, with ~£1M expected to be invested over the coming academic year. The alumni recruit and work with a student team, who benefit from practical learning experience that provides a gateway into a career in venture capital.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking to recruit 2 current students of the university to join as investors and support in the fund's efforts for the rest of the academic year i.e. until July 2025. You are eligible to apply if you are currently studying an MBA, DPhil, Masters or Undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford. If you are studying a different course then please write in at seedfund@sbs.ox.ac.uk to check your eligibility.

Ideal candidates will be driven, thoughtful and diligent students who are passionate about startups and hope to make the transition to founding their own startup or breaking into venture capital. Applicants need to be conscious of the responsibility that comes with sourcing deals on a weekly basis, leading deal diligence, and representing the Oxford Seed Fund, which requires extra work beyond the typical academic schedule. Applicants should be team-players, keen to learn, and must be active week-to-week in-person. This involves being receptive to the direction and feedback given by the alumni, who will drive the performance of the fund and support the team's development.

Responsibilities:

Represent the Oxford Seed Fund and The University of Oxford in conversations with founders, investors & partners.
Source potential investments using various channels, including college and departmental affiliations, LinkedIn outreach, and other networking opportunities. Note: as a team we are aiming to source 500+ venture applications to the Oxford Seed Fund in the upcoming academic year.
Diligencing inbound deals, including reviewing pitch decks, taking founder calls, and speaking with the startup clients, investors & industry advisors.
Work as a team to draft and iterate investment memos to a high-standard to present to our Venture Capital Advisory Board and Investment Committee.
Proactively keeping a record of all live deal notes in our pipeline management tool and following up with founders in a prompt and timely fashion.
Schedule commitments: students are required to participate in weekly team deal flow meetings, 1:1 mentorship chats, asynchronous work on pipeline deals, and attendance of semesterly Venture Capital Advisory Board and Investment Committee meetings. These activities are expected to take 10+ hours / week.

Application deadline:

This is a short-term opening and will be closed as soon as the open positions are filled, so please do apply as soon as possible. Applications will be reviewed from 17th January.

Only select candidates will be interviewed, and if you are not invited to interview then we strongly recommend getting involved in other entrepreneurship, startup and venture capital initiatives across the university.

If you have any questions, please email seedfund@sbs.ox.ac.uk.

Page 2 - Full application

First Name

Last Name

University Email

Your college/department email

Personal Email

Mobile Number

Degree

Oxford College

Expected graduation date (MM/YY)

How did you hear about the Oxford Seed Fund?

Statement of commitment

Before proceeding, please be sure to read the previous page and understand the responsibilities and time commitment that comes with being part of the Oxford Seed Fund team. The reputation and growth of the fund is directly tied to the work of the team, so there are significant time and performance expectations week-to-week that will need to be met whilst balancing your academic workload. Please consider this in light of your goals for this academic year before committing.

Yes - I understand the significant time commitment that comes with being part of the Oxford Seed Fund team for the duration of this academic year.

CV / Résumé upload (Optional)

One-page CV / Résumé (Optional)

Application questions (400 word limit per question)

There are 5 questions below. Please note that all answers will be reviewed with one's educational background and work experience in mind.

1. What gives you the motivation to spend time on the Oxford Seed Fund rather than pursuing a different project / extracurricular? How does OSF tie in to your goals?

2. What soft qualities do you bring that you'd like to highlight? Do you have any sector-specific interests or technical expertise that you'd like to share?

3. Investors primarily source as many startups as possible and select the most promising startups for investment - do you feel you would enjoy this type of work? Explain why.

4. What considerations would you have when dealing with a live startup deal and communicating with founders? How would you balance this workload?

5. Give your thoughts on any pre-seed / seed stage startup that you've seen recently, which you feel is an exciting investment prospect, and explain why? (Note: This does not have to be an Oxford-affiliated startup)

Please also detail your notable academic commitments (exams, dissertation, academic programmes etc.) and any extracurriculars that you are committed to until the end of the academic year.

Do you have any reasonable adjustments or anything else that you'd like to share with us?

This concludes the application form - please proceed once filled.

The next page contains only communications, privacy policy and submission button.

Page 3 - Submit application

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Phone

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Agreement and Privacy

I have read the Privacy Policy and agree to the processing and storing of my data for the purposes of this application. I understand communication about my application may be dealt with via phone or email communications. By consenting I agree to receive communications and agree to the data storage, communication and tracking of my data as described in the privacy policy.

All information is true to the best of my knowledge.

I agree to the above & wish to apply.

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