Venture Building Associate

About FoodLabs

FoodLabs is a venture capital and venture studio firm headquartered in Berlin, Germany, specializing in identifying and building transformational companies in the food, health, and sustainability sectors. The company operates with a distinctive model that combines early-stage venture capital investment with an in-house venture studio that develops new business concepts from inception. FoodLabs discovers promising companies before they achieve category leadership status and provides comprehensive support that extends beyond capital provision. The firm’s core philosophy centers on delivering transformational support to founders across three critical dimensions: Product, People, and Commercial Growth. Rather than limiting involvement to traditional venture capital activities, FoodLabs actively participates in the ideation and early-stage building process, running analytical work that converts hypotheses into fundable and defensible business models. This includes market sizing, stress-testing financial models, competitive landscape mapping, and identifying where value creation occurs within proposed business concepts. FoodLabs operates at the intersection of research, strategy, and venture building, with increasing focus on deeptech, consumer products, and science-based ventures. The company has built a substantial portfolio exceeding eighty companies worldwide, including portfolio companies such as HOLY, LAP, MicroHarvest, Voltrac, Reformed, and Evanium. The venture studio function operates continuously, spinning up new ventures and conducting the foundational analytical work required to turn emerging opportunities into viable businesses. The firm has recently closed a new fund, expanding its capacity for venture building and portfolio support activities.

About this Role

FoodLabs is seeking a Venture Building Associate to join the Studio function at the heart of the company’s venture development operations. This role represents a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of research, strategy, and venture building, where intellectual rigor and analytical capability directly shape the creation and trajectory of new companies. In this position, you will engage in deep research and analysis to identify white spaces, size market opportunities, and build the analytical foundation that transforms early-stage ideas into ventures worth backing. Research activities will encompass field research, desk research, network development, and talent identification. However, this role extends significantly beyond pure research. You will work directly with founders and studio teams throughout the venture development lifecycle, from pre-incorporation through Seed stage and beyond, challenging assumptions, sharpening business narratives, and building organizational structures around scalable business models. You will own the full picture of venture development challenges, meaning that any factor shaping whether a company gets built or how it evolves falls within your domain of responsibility. This requires taking ownership, making decisive decisions, and delivering work that shapes company trajectories from day one. You will design and lead your own projects, developing your own point of view on market opportunities and business models, and translating those perspectives into venture-worthy businesses. Your work will span multiple investment theses and industry segments. You will take particular ownership of the deeptech and robotics segment within the studio, positioning your work between consumer applications and biotechnology ventures. You will develop and sharpen investment theses through market research, expand the firm’s knowledge base with frameworks and market maps, and stay current with category dynamics, regulatory developments, and emerging business models across robotics, agtech, biotech, consumer, and related sectors. Building and leveraging a network of universities, research institutions, industry experts, investors, and corporate partners will be essential to your effectiveness.

Responsibilities

• Build and pressure-test business models for new studio ventures, including unit economics analysis, pricing logic development, go-to-market strategy formulation, and identification of paths to profitability
• Own the deeptech and robotics segment within the Studio, managing ventures at the intersection of AI applications, software, and robotics applications
• Conduct deep market research to develop and sharpen investment theses across assigned focus areas
• Translate research insights into strategic decisions that founders can act upon, taking a research-led but commercially grounded approach to venture building
• Work directly with founders and studio teams to challenge assumptions and sharpen business narratives
• Build and maintain a network of universities, research institutions, industry experts, investors, and corporate partners
• Expand the firm’s knowledge base through development of frameworks, market maps, and research on category dynamics, regulatory developments, and emerging business models
• Design and lead independent projects from conception through venture validation
• Collaborate with the Studio and Investment teams on venture development initiatives
• Step in directly on urgent and critical work that impacts venture viability and trajectory

Requirements

• Research and thesis-building instinct: ability to go deep before going broad, independently developing well-founded perspectives on markets, business models, and technologies, and challenging assumptions with data rather than opinions
• Operator experience: demonstrated experience in a high-performing startup or fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment ideally requiring structured thinking, ownership, and executional follow-through
• Curiosity and ambition: thriving in environments where intellectual curiosity is essential, with desire to learn from and contribute to teams of founders, scientists, and operators building businesses at the frontier
• Drive for excellence: outstanding track record in academic, professional, or entrepreneurial pursuits with consistent application of high standards to personal work
• Problem-solving mindset: excellent analytical abilities and structured approach to complex, ambiguous problems; capability to break down difficult questions, synthesize large information volumes, and communicate thinking clearly
• Communication: fluency in English is required; German language proficiency is a strong advantage; ability to distill complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives in written, presentation, and conversational formats
• Willingness to work in-office in Berlin

Benefits

• Opportunity to work at the intersection of research, strategy, and venture building with companies spanning deeptech, consumer, and science sectors
• Direct collaboration and mentorship from experienced founders, scientists, and operators
• Ownership of entire venture development processes from pre-incorporation through Seed stage
• Access to extensive network of universities, research institutions, industry experts, and corporate partners
• Role in building and expanding FoodLabs’ venture studio operations following recent fund closure
• Exposure to portfolio of over eighty companies globally, including established ventures like HOLY, LAP, MicroHarvest, Voltrac, Reformed, and Evanium
• Steep learning curve in fast-paced venture building environment
• Impact on venture trajectory and company building outcomes from day one