April 2012

The Mid-Atlantic Venture Association's e-newsletter.

Join Us! Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Capital Connection May 23-24 Washington, D.C.

Spotlight on the Entrepreneur Focus of 25th Anniversary Capital Connection

Steve Case to Give Capstone Keynote
The ultimate entrepreneur, Steve Case, will will speak on national entrepreneurial trends, new investment initiatives and real-time public policy that impacts businesses today as the plenary speaker on May 24. Mr. Case will highlight significant milestones along his journey as part of the closing session wrapping up a 1 day conference showcasing the best and brightest Company Builders at all stages of growth. Read more about Plenary Speaker Steve Case

Don't miss out - hotel room discount expires May 4th. Book Today!

New Member Spotlight

MAVA welcomes new Member J. Moore Partners, a San Francisco-based Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Advisory firm specializing in highvaluation transactions for technology companies. The firm has just opened an East-coast office in Bethesda, MD, which will be led by Kathryn Stewart as Managing Director and Head of East Coast Operations. J. Moore Partners is focused on mergers and acquisitions for technology companies, with expertise in mobile, cloud, big data, digital media, ad tech, gaming, social media, healthcare IT, SaaS, education technology and security software. We are pleased to bring J. Moore on board just in time for Capital Connection12 and encourage all members to reach out and make Kathryn and her team feel welcome within our community.

Gilt Groupe CEO Headlines

Trailblazing serial entrepreneur Kevin P. Ryan will share industry insights and lessons learned as keynote speaker for the opening session of Capital Connection'12 on May 23 at 5:00 p.m. The former CEO of DoubleClick, the founder and CEO of Gilt Groupe has founded five companies in four years and sold two. Read more about Gilt Groupe CEO Keynote

Entrepreneur Advisory Council Guides Program Focus

The newly formed Entrepreneur Advisory Council created by MAVA will help spearhead programs to meet the unique needs of high growth companies. The Council will benefit from the input of two CEOs and visionaries as inaugural members -- Wayne Jackson, CEO of Sonatype and David Steinberg, CEO of SnappCloud. Jackson and Steinberg are "shining stars" of past Capital Connection conferences. Read more about theEntrepreneur Advisory Council

Disruptathon to Enable Feedback on Presentations at Capital Connection

Mobile Platform to Give Real-Time Feedback to Entrepreneurs at TechBUZZ and Capital Connection

Capital Connection12, a nationally recognized technology industry conference, is putting advanced mobile technology into the hands of event attendees to share instant feedback on company presentations. Disruptathon will customize its mobile application and Innovation Discovery Platform to enable real-time audience feedback of companies presenting at TechBUZZ and on the Main Stage at Capital Connection12. New to Capital Connection this year is the TechBUZZ Showdown. TheDisruptathon mobile application will enable the TechBUZZ audience to vote for the Best of BUZZ and give the top 3-5 companies an opportunity to advance to the TechBUZZ Showdown. Those companies in the TechBUZZ Showdown will pitch their innovative businesses to the entire Capital Connection audience the following afternoon. One TechBUZZ company will emerge as the 2012 champion. Read More...

Affinity PartnerEvents DC Tech Meetup #13: Hacks, Code and Creative

MAVA is proud to support the DC Tech Meetup on May 1, 7:00 p.m. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, D.C. DC Tech Meetup

TiE DC: "Hats & Heels" Tea

May 6, 2:30 p.m. Co Co Sala, D.C. Celebrate Derby weekend TiE

Thank you to Capital Connection Media Partners

MAVA thanks Emerge magazine, citybizlist and StreetFight for their valued support for Capital Connection'12. Please take a moment to visit these industry-focused publications:

DC

TiE DC: Rohit Bhargava with "Likeonomics"

May 8, 6:00 p.m. McLean, VA Launch of new book, "Likeonomics" TiE DC

The Day of Foster.ly

MAVA is pleased to support and participate in The Day of Foster.ly on May 12, 12:00 p.m. Artisphere, Rosslyn, VA. Join us for a full day of entrepreneurfriendly sessions and workshops - and a big party too!

MAVA Thanks Our Promotional Partner

Thank you to Capital Connection Affinity Partners

Venture capital report: Investment in local firms tops $200M in first quarter
The Washington region began the year with a nearly identical amount of venture capital investment in terms of the number and size of deals compared with the first quarter of 2011. Despite a dip in funding for the prior quarter, the Washington region began the year with stable year-over-year numbers, reflecting a slight uptick in deals and funding levels from 2011 to 2012" said Julia Spicer, Executive Director of the MidAtlantic Venture Association in response to recent quarterly venture reports. We're encouraged to see key sectors,

Innovation Success Spotlight!

TechBUZZ '11 Presenters Klaggle, Lemur & Venga Named to the The Fort Inaugural Class
D.C.s Newest Tech Accelerator The Fort Debuts Inaugural Batch

(March 7, 2012) Hot, new Washington D.C. tech accelerator known as The Fort has introduced its inaugural class of startups. The organization grew out the efforts from early stage VC firm Fortify Ventures LLC, also known asFortify.vc (thats its URL, too), which had previously invested in nearly dozen D.C.-area tech companies. Over the past 9 months, The Forts co-founders, Jonathon Perrelli and Carla Valdes, have been busy trying to spark innovation in the nations capital. They set up the fund, invested in group of startups, created the accelerator, hosted a pitch competition called Distilled Intelligence which handed out $25K to winners, and selected a dozen more startups for The Forts first program. Read more...

such as biotechnology and software posting well this quarter; an active M&A market; and increased IPO activity as these are positive indicators that bode well for an improved climate for investing and company building." Compete article at Capital

Business 4/23/12

Announcing New MAVA Memberships

MAVA is launching two new membership models designed specifically to engage companies in high growth mode. Is your company engineering marketchanging technology? Are you charting a high-growth trajectory to success? MAVA wants individuals like you and firms like yours to participate in the MAVA community throughout the year. Company Innovators Membership: Annual Membership for a Growth Firm includes 2 tickets to Capital Connection (including TechBUZZ) for members of the company's management team, and offers member rates & benefits throughout the year. New programming is under development to address the needs of high growth firms through the depth of resources within MAVA's membership and well be refining these programs with input from our charter members of this program. CEO Connect Membership: Re-launching this program in 2012, CEO Connect offers individual MAVA Membership for CEOs nominated by one of MAVAs investor members. Annual membership includes 1 ticket to Capital Connection (including TechBUZZ), member rates & benefits throughout the year and specific, new programming to facilitate peer-to-peer networking. JOIN MAVA TODAY MAVA 1600 Tysons Blvd Suite 575, McLean, VA 22102 703-506-9300 www.mava.org

Like, follow or friend us!

Have a story, event or deal you want to announce? Email mava@mava.org to post your story in mavaNet or on our website at www.mava.org.