Mohr Davidow Sponsors 2011 MIT Energy Conference 'Confronting Limits with Fact-Based Analysis'

MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mohr Davidow, a leading early stage Silicon Valley venture firm, announced today its participation in the 2011 MIT Energy Conference on March 4 and 5 in Boston.  In addition to being the sole Silicon Valley-based venture capital sponsor, the firm will also facilitate the Start-up Clinic on Friday, March 4.

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The 2011 MIT Energy Conference  brings together leaders from industry, academia and government to tackle the greatest technology, policy and business challenges in energy. This year's conference – Confronting Limits with Fact-based Analysis – leverages MIT's core strengths to explore the limits of specific technologies, funding mechanisms, and other proposed energy system transformations.   The conference will harness the expertise of energy leaders featuring panel topics including valuing risk in energy projects, strategic energy materials, renewable fuels and many others. Two visionary leaders in the energy industry will deliver keynote addresses on March 5: Secretary of the U.S. Navy Ray Mabus and from Chairman, President and CEO of Duke Energy Corporation Mr. James E. Rogers.

The Start-up Clinic will provide MIT students with a venue to learn about the process of starting a company through an action-based learning approach. Attendees will learn about the basics -- from finding customers to raising money to dealing with licensing and patent issues -- from a technologist who has been through it all. This keynote will highlight what taking a technology from an MIT lab and spinning it out into a successful enterprise entails. Subsequently, participants will hear a proposal from an early-stage energy start-up that is facing a specific challenge. Students will then break out into roundtable groups to put their learning into practice through expert-led discussions analyzing the business pitch.

Mohr Davidow partners KT Moortgat and Will Coleman will be among the experienced panel of VCs, CEOs, entrepreneurs and lawyers moderating discussions and sharing their viewpoints and specific expertise with participants.

About Mohr Davidow

For more than 25 years, the Mohr Davidow team has invested in early stage startups and worked closely with exceptional entrepreneurs to move innovation forward, and to develop and deliver new, technology-based ideas, products and services. The firm's investments result in companies that transform industries whether through more efficient power for our planet, better infrastructure for our rapidly evolving digital world or better and more personalized medicine. Category-leading companies funded by Mohr Davidow include: Agile (ORCL); AudienceScience; Brocade (BRDC); Echelon (ELON); Genomatica; Nanosolar; nLight; ONI Systems (CIEN); Rally Software; Recurrent Energy (acquired by Sharp Corporation); Pacific Biosciences (PACB); Panasas; ParAllele (AFFX); Proofpoint; RainDance Technologies; Rambus (RMBS); Sabrix (acquired by ThomsonReuters); Simbol Materials, Visible Measures; and ZeaChem. The firm has $2 billion under management. For more information, visit http://www.mdv.com.

SOURCE Mohr Davidow