M&A Intern - manda

About the company

iwoca is built around helping small and medium-sized businesses move quickly when opportunities arise or cash flow becomes tight. The company combines technology, data science, and responsive customer service to give business owners practical control and speed when they need funding most. So far, iwoca has supported more than 100,000 businesses with over £4 billion in funding, and its wider goal is to help one million SMEs through the critical moments that shape their growth.

This internship sits within manda, iwoca’s M&A platform. manda focuses on the buying and selling of small businesses, with a strong emphasis on the sub-£10m enterprise value segment. The platform uses AI, automation, and iwoca’s SME customer base to build a more effective M&A experience for this market.

The opportunity is a paid off-cycle internship lasting up to 6 months, based in London or Leeds in a hybrid setup, with the intention of converting into a full-time analyst role if the fit is right.

Role overview

You will join the manda Deal Team and work directly with the people operating the platform, including Transaction Managers on both the sell-side and buy-side, the Due Diligence Manager, and the Venture Lead. The environment is small and hands-on, so your work will have a direct impact on live deals and on how the business itself develops.

The internship is structured in two stages. During the first two months, you will be embedded in active workstreams based on deal flow and team priorities. In the second stage, you will take ownership of a project identified during the first phase and deliver it from scoping through to execution.

Responsibilities

• Support sell-side deal execution by qualifying vendor leads, preparing deal materials, maintaining virtual data rooms, and coordinating buyer questions throughout the process.
• Assist the buy-side team with searcher and acquirer mandates, matching buyers to live opportunities and helping progress transactions toward a letter of intent.
• Help with due diligence and valuation by turning SME data into clear analysis of the business model, financial position, and likely fair value.
• Contribute to origination by identifying potential sellers, running matching models across iwoca’s customer base, and converting suitable prospects into mandates.
• Work on product, data, and AI tasks by replacing manual processes with automated workflows, mapping data structures for the digital information memorandum, and helping build tools that improve transaction team efficiency.
• Take ownership of a project in months 3 to 6 that addresses a genuine business problem or opportunity, such as target scoring, AI-assisted document drafting, or a new outbound channel.
• Handle practical day-to-day tasks with initiative, including spreadsheet cleanup, CRM maintenance, outreach, and other work needed to keep deals moving.

Requirements

• Availability for a full-time off-cycle internship of up to 6 months.
• A strong academic record; all disciplines are welcome, although Finance, Economics, or Business are preferred.
• Evidence of interest in M&A, FinTech, or entrepreneurship through projects, initiatives, or relevant experience.
• Confidence working with SME data, financing topics, or M&A workflows is a plus.
• Ability to understand financial statements such as profit and loss accounts and balance sheets.
• Comfort with modern tools and AI-enabled workflows, along with a willingness to automate repetitive work.
• Professional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to speak with business owners and handle outreach by email or phone.
• A proactive, self-starting mindset with the ability to identify what needs doing and move it forward without waiting for instructions.

Perks and benefits

• Annual compensation of £30,000 for the internship.
• Potential conversion into a permanent role after the internship, with pay reset to match the new position.
• Flexible working hours.
• Medical insurance through Vitality, including discounted gym membership.
• Private GP access for you, your partner, and dependents.
• 25 days of annual leave, plus your birthday off.
• Option to buy or sell up to 5 additional days of leave, plus unlimited unpaid leave.
• A fully paid one-month sabbatical after four years.
• Access to counselling and therapy support when needed.
• 3% pension contribution on total earnings.
• Employee equity incentive scheme.
• Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme.
• Electric car scheme and cycle-to-work scheme.
• Two company retreats each year.
• Learning and development budget for every employee.
• Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers.
• Access to learning platforms such as Treehouse.
• Office amenities including drinks and snacks, plus community activities such as running groups, padel, ping-pong, and pool.

Culture and working environment

iwoca describes its culture as one where the strongest idea wins. The company values independent thinking, evidence-led decisions, and the freedom to learn and grow in the direction that makes each person most effective. It also encourages employees to use AI tools and shared infrastructure to work faster and more effectively.

Office locations

The company has offices in London, Leeds, Berlin, and Frankfurt. This role is listed as hybrid in London or Leeds, United Kingdom.

Additional information

This internship is intended to be a paid off-cycle placement of up to 6 months. It is open to candidates who want to build experience in M&A, FinTech, and venture-style problem solving, with a strong preference for people who show initiative over those with only a polished CV.

The role includes a clear two-phase structure: first, broad exposure to active M&A operations; then, a self-directed project with regular check-ins and full ownership. The team works with CRM systems, virtual data rooms, and AI-automated workflows, and the internship is designed to give the intern real exposure to live deals from the start.