Spencer Maughan is an Australian expat based in California. When not consulting to Silicon Valley venture capitalists (including Top 10 VC firm Venrock ^[1]), he spends his time attempting to rid the world of Malaria. I caught up with Maughan three weeks ago, just as his Facebook application, Fight Malaria, was entering Beta Testing.

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Rupert Murdoch and Spencer Maughan, 2008

More about Spencer Maughan…

With a string of academic qualifications as long as your arm, Spencer Maughan would at first glance seem an unlikely adviser to venture capitalists in the cut-throat landscape of the Silicon Valley investment community. Maughan completed a PhD in Genetics from the University of Melbourne. He then re-located to the UK, as a Marie Curie Fellow at Cambridge University, where he researched malaria-related drug-resistance genes, work which was recognised by the UK Parliament.

A shift in focus brought Maughan to the US where he completed an MBA at Stanford University concentrating on early-stage investment finance and entrepreneurship as a AAA-Macquarie Bank Fellow. Over this period he was one of 18 delegates to attend the 20/20 satellite conference in Washington DC hosted by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to discuss technology and early-stage capital markets.

Within Silicon Valley, Maughan has consulted to various private equity firms including top-tier venture capitalists, with a focus on cleantech and life science investment. Currently he is developing a cause-based Facebook application and an associated platform to facilitate donations through social media.