MAVA is a membership association in the mid-Atlantic region serving the needs of the full ecosystem of investments ranging from angel to later stage .
MAVA wrapped up the year with its Annual Holiday CEO & Investor Luncheon sponsored by Argy, Wiltse, & Robinson PC on December 8 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner. This year's featured speaker was Patrick Cirillo, Assistant to the Secretary of IMF who shared thought-provoking comments on current developments in the European economic crisis. New this year, MAVA introduced a Best Practices CXO Seminar featuring a CEO panel discussion led by Sid Banerjee of Clarabridge, Sean McDermott of App47, and Lou Pugliese of Moodlerooms. The panel was moderated by Carl Grant of Cooley, LLP. The seminar also featured "Selling to the Federal Government" presented by Sajeev Malaveetil of Argy, Wiltse, & Robinson PC and "Where's the ROI in Global Outsourcing" presented by Suresh Shenoy of IMC, Inc. Thanks to all who participated and supported MAVA throughout 2011.
Chevy Chase, Md. -- New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the Chevy Chase-based venture capital firm, has led a new $30.1 million round of funding in Dutch biopharmaceutical firm Prosensa, which is developing RNA-modulating therapeutics to treat rare diseases. Previous backers Abingworth, Life Sciences Partners, Gimv, Idinvest Partners and MedSciences Capital also participated in the round. David Mott, general partner of NEA, will join the company's supervisory board. Mott called Prosensa "one of the most promising emerging European biopharmaceutical companies." The company is targeting treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), Myotonic Dystrophy (DM1) and Huntington's disease (HD).
Reston, Va. -- Goodzer, the Reston-based developer of a local product search engine designed to help users find items from nearby stores, has raised $650,000 in new funding, according to CEO Dmitry Pakhomkin. As initially reported by the Washington Business Journal, investors included several current and former Cree executives, including Neal Hunter, John Palmour and Cengiz Balkas. Goodzer now features more than 2 billion products from over 500,000 brick-and-mortar locations, checking prices and availability in real time from any merchant that lists items on a website. Pakhomkin said Goodzer plans to feature products from more than 1 million stores in the next several months, as the company proceeds on its expansion plans.
Wheaton, Md. -- Shopsy, the Wheaton-based developer of an online shopping engine that delivers custom outfit recommendations to women, said it has been accepted into the winter session of the TechStars business accelerator in Boston. The startup, headed by founder Lisa Morales-Hellebo, will be one of 13 companies to participate in the bootcamp, and the only one with local origins. Each company receives seed funding, along with mentorship and space at TechStars' facility in Cambridge, Mass. In exchange, TechStars takes a 6% stake in each startup. Shopsy also was one of 24 companies selected last fall by the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) to present at TechBUZZ, which was held in conjunction with DC Week.
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