Brian Curtis, EIR
Brian is an Entrepreneur in Residence with Qiming Ventures in Shanghai and its sister fund Ignition Partners in Seattle. He focuses on energy, environment and resource investments. Brian also acts as an independent consultant and advisor to clean energy start-ups and the US Department of Energy. Recent cases include cellulosic ethanol, electrification of cars, synthetic biology for biofuels, nano-materials for clean catalysts and food/air/water quality. Brian came to Qiming from Shanghai New Margin Ventures where he was a Venture Partner.Brian first came to China in 2003 as founding General Manager for Heritage Technologies Asia, which operates a series of environmental protection joint ventures in South China. Under his management, the company structured its partnerships, built a chemical plant and established a Chinese distribution network. Brian works from a foundation of 2 formative experiences early his career: first, as a hydrogen and alternative fuels engineer for Chevron and, then, as an IT entrepreneur whose company was acquired in pre-bubble popping 2000.
Brian holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and remains active in the global MIT community. He is a judge for the MIT Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize and recently co-founded the Shanghai chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum. During school, he was the Lead Organizer for the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and dedicated much of his time to developing entrepreneurial programs across campus. He received the Patrick J McGovern, Jr Award for outstanding contribution to entrepreneurship at MIT and the Sloan Senate Award for leadership in the MIT Sloan community. Brian holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA.
Brian is a native Californian splitting time between Shanghai and San Francisco.