The Mid-Atlantic Venture Association is expanding its TechBUZZ program

The Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) announced last week that it is expanding its TechBUZZ event with a new conference series called SURGE.

Today we announced SURGE: the Technology for Industry Conference Series. Learn more – https://t.co/p2nDvdGx4q #SectorSURGE pic.twitter.com/kIfWY5rkiK

— MAVA: More Than Venture (@MoreThanVenture) May 16, 2019

As part of the new conference, MAVA will select up to 50 early-stage tech and tech-enabled startups to get in-depth counsel from investors, tech executives and researchers. Applications opened up on May 16 and a group of MAVA investor members will review and select the inaugural class of companies.

SURGE will span a full year with an in-person conference taking place Oct. 2 at The Hotel at the University of Maryland. Selected companies will also get one-on-one meetings with investors, engage in closed-door roundtable discussions and gain access to an exclusive digital platform that MAVA is releasing later this year.

ScienceLogic CEO David Link and Tenable General Counsel Steve Riddick will co-chair the inaugural SURGE conference.

As Technical.ly DC has previously reported, MAVA started TechBUZZ in 2011 to allow seed and early-stage tech companies the opportunity to showcase their ideas in a pitch and demo round. The program takes place three times annually. Its last event, TechBUZZ Fall 2018, welcomed 16 startups to pitch and 14 of those companies are from the DMV area.

For the first time at TechBUZZ Fall 2018, MAVA included a VIP pre-program that featured roundtable discussions about market-leading applications and tech, led by experts and faculty from UMD. This laid the foundation for SURGE.

MAVA said it will continue to host TechBUZZ each year, with companies pitching on the main stage for a chance to connect with investors. Of the startups selected for SURGE, momentum-stage companies (a company with $2 million in annual recurring revenue) will have the opportunity to pitch on the main stage at the Oct. 2 event.