MENLO PARK, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 11, 2015) - Mohr Davidow Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's leading venture firms specializing in early-stage technology-based startups, today announced that it will be hosting a private screening of CodeGirl, the latest documentary from Director Lesley Chilcott (executive producer of An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman). After the film -- which follows ten teams of girls as they compete in Technovation, an entrepreneurship and coding competition -- Katherine Barr, general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, will host a panel discussion with some of Silicon Valley's most accomplished women about how to close the gender gap that leaves women under-represented in the world of technology and science.
Although 74 percent of high school girls show an interest in science, technology, engineering or math, only 4 percent choose to major in these STEM subjects, and 50 percent of women in STEM careers leave the workforce. Computer programming, especially, is dominated by men, but the world's first programmers were women. Even as late as the 1960s computer programming was considered a good career choice for young women1, but now women comprise just 18 percent of computer science undergraduate majors, down from 37 percent in 1985.
Barr, who appears in the movie, is passionate about eliminating this gender gap. "I give huge props to Tara Chklovski, Iridescent CEO, Technovation program founder, Anuranjita Tewary, and their team for growing the program to 5,000 participants worldwide this year," says Barr. "I have been involved with Technovation as a judge for the past several years, and the documentary put into context what a big deal the Technovation Challenge is -- it is having a global impact and changing girls' lives by learning how to become technology entrepreneurs."
"The world needs the contributions of these talented women. The film powerfully portrays how these girls are doing more than just coding," comments Sonal Puri, CEO, Webscale (formerly Lagrange Systems) and a panelist. "They're also managing their projects and pitching them to executives. These role model young women show that they possess a broader skillset -- one that will help them succeed as entrepreneurs." CodeGirl tracks the girls as they find mentors, learn to code, and develop their first apps and business plans. In 2015, 5,000 girls from 60 nations contended for the grand prize at Technovation.
Panelists include Lesley Chilcott, director and award-winning filmmaker, and several exceptional women who overcame these stereotypes to succeed as technical experts and entrepreneurs: Sonal Puri; Sophie Lebrecht, CEO and co-founder of Neon Labs; Tara Chklovski, founder and CEO of Iridescent; and Gloria Lau, consulting faculty at Stanford and equity partner at DCVC. Also participating are Technovation alumnae who'll be showcasing the mobile apps they developed during past Technovation competitions.
Read CodeGirl And Inspiring Advice From Top Entrepreneurs (Who Happen to be Women), Katherine Barr's article in Inc. Magazine.
Read more about the CodeGirl movie: http://www.codegirlmovie.com/
About Mohr Davidow Ventures
For over 30 years, the Mohr Davidow Ventures team has invested in early stage technology-based startups that redefine or create large new markets. Menlo Park, California-based MDV partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build companies where big data, applied analytics, and the reach and power of the web/mobile cloud can be leveraged to drive emerging opportunities in verticals ranging from ecommerce, education, and finance to digital marketing, work force innovation, and consumer-driven healthcare. Leading companies funded by Mohr Davidow Ventures include: Adamas (
About Webscale Networks
CloudMaestro by Webscale Networks is an Application [Delivery] Controller (ADC) and management solution built for maximizing performance and availability, while optimizing costs, across all cloud providers. With CloudMaestro, you can proactively, and infinitely, scale your infrastructure out and in, achieve blazing fast performance for all your users, secure your web presence and orchestrate across single or multiple cloud providers. Because CloudMaestro is built with true cloud characteristics for your web service using technology designed through more than a decade's research in high-performance parallel and distributed computing, it's never been easier to deploy, simpler to manage, and as affordable to work with cloud infrastructure for companies of all sizes. Founded in 2012, Webscale Networks is privately held and headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
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1 http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2011/researcher-reveals-how-%E2%80%9Ccomputer-geeks%E2%80%9D-replaced-%E2%80%9Ccomputergirls%E2%80%9D
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