CMEA to be Exclusive VC Sponsor of GreenTech 2008 Conference

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CMEA Ventures (www.cmeaventures.com) announced today that it will be the exclusive VC sponsor of GreenTech 2008 – a conference showcasing smart, young and cutting edge green technology companies. Many of these companies are out of Caltech, UCLA and USC – and all offer technologies and products that have the potential to transform the marketplace and change the world.

Entretech (www.entretech.com), a leading non-profit association supporting the growth of technology companies in Greater Los Angeles, co-hosts GreenTech 2008 with Materia (www.materia-inc.com), a green technology, Caltech spin-off commercializing Nobel Prize winning research.

“CMEA is pleased to be the exclusive VC sponsor of GreenTech as we believe this conference provides enormous investment and networking opportunities and is on the cutting edge of environmental issues and potential resolves, especially as consumers, investors, and governments realize the importance of their choices for the future of the environment,” said Maurice Gunderson, Senior Partner at CMEA and keynote speaker this year at GreenTech 2008. “Our partnership with Caltech, Materia, and Entretech is a great way to harness the creative spirit of the Southern California technology community."

CMEA portfolio company NuScale Power – a developer of modular nuclear power generation technology – will also be presenting at GreenTech 2008. NuScale provides utilities with a way to add and finance new generating capacity in a manner and on a time scale similar to gas turbines. This is expected to greatly speed the deployment of non-carbon emitting nuclear power generation.

“We are excited to have CMEA as our VC partner and one of its most exciting new portfolio companies as a presenter. CMEA’s support is an indication of the importance of ‘green’ technology and CMEA’s leadership in investing in this space and in facilitating the commercialization of technology that will address the growing problems we are facing in natural resource allocation, global climate change, and sustainable economic growth,” said Materia CEO Michael A. Giardello.

About CMEA Ventures (www.cmeaventures.com)

CMEA Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on energy & materials, high technology, and life sciences investments. CMEA believes that the most successful venture backed companies are science focused and have experienced teams intent on winning. As a result, CMEA's portfolio companies typically have cutting edge, highly differentiated, and often multidisciplinary technology at their core, with founding teams of the highest caliber.

CMEA invests in both early and late stage ventures, and has a strong network of corporate, investment, and entrepreneurial relationships that it leverages on behalf of its portfolio companies. The firm currently manages six funds representing investments in excess of $1 billion. CMEA has been an early stage investor in many leading Silicon Valley high technology companies, including Entropic (ENTR), Flextronics (FLEX), Magma (LAVA), Maxygen (MAXY), Monogram Biosciences (MGRM), Silicon Spice (BRCM), Symyx (SMMX), and Syrrx (purchased by Takeda.)

About Materia, Inc. (www.materia-inc.com)

Materia was founded in 1998 to commercialize olefin metathesis catalyst technology. This market-enabling, Nobel Prize-winning, green chemical technology enables chemical compounds to be synthesized with greater efficiency, under less stringent reaction conditions, and with reduced byproducts and hazardous waste. Metathesis has been accepted as an emerging “green technology” platform and has been broadly adopted by the pharmaceutical, chemical, and polymer industries. As stated by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences when awarding the 2005 Nobel Prize, “metathesis is an example of how important basic science has been applied for the benefit of man, society, and the environment.”

About Entretech (www.entretech.org)

Entretech is the leading non-profit association supporting high tech companies in Greater Los Angeles with critical and practical business development resources and connections. Our mission is to grow the technology cluster in the L.A. region, and support such growth in Southern California as a whole. Entretech empowers entrepreneurs to build new businesses through capital, education, people, and strategic partners. Through a dedicated relationship with the California Institute of Technology, UCLA and USC, Entretech provides opportunities to new technology companies forming tomorrow’s high tech industry.