David Mount joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2008 and is a partner in KPCB’s Green Growth Fund (GGF), which supports young companies leading new markets in sustainable ways. David is focused on software and services investments applicable to the energy and industrials markets. He is on the boards of UpWind Solutions and Choose Energy, a board observer at OSIsoft, and led the firm’s investment in ServiceMax. He has also worked closely with the teams at Silver Spring Networks (SSNI), Opower (OPWR), and Hara (acquired by Verisae). For over a decade, David has been investing in billion dollar technology and energy portfolios that span the petrochemical, oil and gas and consumer sectors. Before joining KPCB, David developed his principal investing expertise at Sankaty Advisors, a $20B structured finance unit of Bain Capital. There David helped manage Sankaty’s petro-focused portfolio, which included exploration, production, refining, field services and specialty chemicals. He also evaluated opportunities in renewable energy and alternative fuels and chemicals, predating the first wave of investing in these technologies. David’s involvement in the firm’s consumer portfolio included investments in multinationals within the food, health and sustainable business sectors. David holds a B.A. degree from Yale University and an M.S. degree in environment and resources from Stanford University. He completed his M.B.A. at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He remains involved in course development at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and School of Earth Sciences.
Significant opportunities exist for data scientists and technologists to take analytical tools developed for the internet, clickstream analysis, fraud detection and root cause analysis in to the energy and industrials verticals. This discussion will highlight several market opportunities where ‘Big Data’ and analytics are poised to change the status quo of large, established industrial markets, making them safer, more efficient, more reliable and more responsive.