Why Cathay Innovation: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

Cathay Innovation Overview

Created in affiliation with Cathay Capital, Cathay Innovation is a venture capital partnership which supports startups in the digital revolution space across Latin America, North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Their platform unifies tech investments across multiple entrepreneurs, investors, continents, and corporations to help accelerate the growth of startups by giving them access to invaluable industry knowledge, new markets, and introductions to potential partners.

Cathay Innovation’s story began in 2015 when Mingpo Cai, Cathay Capital founder and serial entrepreneur, met Denis Barrier, an innovator and French venture capitalist. Together, they infused venture capital with the Cathay Capital platform.

Cathay Innovation is based in San Francisco, California with additional offices in New York, Berlin, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, and Singapore.

Cathay Innovation AUM

According to the official website of Cathay Innovation, the firm has more than $1.5 billion in assets under management.

Cathay Innovation Interview Process & Questions

Firms may decide to tweak their interview process with each candidate. However, you’ll find that the general nature of the interview stays the same. When you interview at Cathay Innovation, you can expect:

• 4 to 6 rounds of interviews
• For the initial rounds, the junior professionals will be in charge of the interview. For the later part, the senior staff take over.
• Entire process typically lasts for several weeks – except for on-cycle or on-campus recruiting

The interview questions will be a combination of behavioral, fit, and investing questions so make sure to prepare for that.

My Growth Equity Interview Guide is an excellent resource in case you need help preparing for interviews.

Why Cathay Innovation

“Why this firm?” almost always shows up during interviews – and also one of the most critical questions you have to answer.

If you’ve done networking to get connected with the firm’s employees, this is the right time to mention whoever you’ve met and how their experiences have positively influenced your decision to apply.

You can also try listening to interviews with the firm’s founders, portfolio companies, and key personnels to come up with relevant answers.

Check out this discussion with Alex Lazarow, Investment Director of Cathay Innovation:

More Interviews

• Interview with Alexandre Lazarow, Global Venture Investor at Cathay Innovation
• Interview with Rajive Keshup, Partner at Cathay Innovation

Cathay Innovation Case Study

Communication skills and technical knowledge are two important factors that investment firms like Cathay Innovation consider when selecting the right candidate. They often use case study to evaluate these traits.

Most case studies will have you perform financial modeling and provide investment recommendations. However, cold calling case study may also be included if you’re applying for junior roles.

You can find more case study resources inside my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

Cathay Innovation Salary & Compensation

As per Glassdoor, analysts at Cathay Innovation have earned salaries of $117K per year, while there’s no data for recent associates at the firm. Figures may vary depending on many factors like experience, location, and education.

Analyst

Cathay Innovation Careers, Jobs, & Internships

Visit our job board if you’re looking for open roles at Cathay Innovation or other similar firms.

Cathay Innovation Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, Cathay Innovation has made 128 investments across four funds. Some of their notable deals include Nabla, Ghost, and Beem Energy.

Notable Transaction: Flowdesk

Flowdesk is a full-service digital asset trading firm which specializes in treasury management services, market making, and OTC.

Flowdesk was able to triple their revenues YoY, quickly scale their newly opened offices in the US and Canada, and run their OTC desk at full speed.

In January 2024, Flowdesk secured $50 million investment from a Series B funding round led by Cathay Innovation with participation from Eurazeo, Ripple, BPI, Speedinvest, and Cathay Ledger Fund.

Flowdesk uses the fund to keep their position as one of the leading market-service providers and expand their OTC offerings as well. They also aim to widen their coverage in Singapore and the US.

Next Steps

If you decide to send your application and build your investing career at Cathay Innovation, I would highly recommend that you check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide first before attending interviews.

Growth Equity Interview Guide helps professionals get a good grasp of topics that are typically covered during interviews such as financial modeling, case studies, and more. Check it out and start learning today!