Naren Gupta, a task capitalist who co-founded Nexus Venture Partners to assistance works Indian SaaS startups connected the satellite map, died connected Saturday. He was 73.
Gupta, who moved to the U.S. to prosecute higher acquisition successful precocious 1960s, co-founded Integrated Systems, a bundle steadfast that was yet sold to Intel. After leaving the firm, Gupta began exploring concern opportunities.
“My instauration to task superior and concern was truly accidental,” helium said successful a podcast past year. “I truly had nary plans to bash it. But the accidental seemed good, and I met tons of entrepreneurs and erstwhile successful a while, I made investments.”
One of the earliest investments Gupta made was successful an Indian startup, which against his urging, agreed to an acquisition offer. The woody made Gupta recognize that if helium had a ceremonial task fund, his portfolio startups would beryllium successful a presumption to instrumentality longer-term bets.
“That’s wherefore I got funny successful task successful India. In 2005 and 2006, I made a fig of trips and met hundreds of companies," helium recalled successful the podcast.
It was a bold bet. There were precise fewer startups successful India astatine the clip and acold less investors consenting to backmost them. Nexus, additionally, was focusing connected startups that lick problems faced by ample enterprises. Its stake was that enterprises crossed the globe would find the solutions relevant.
"Technology truly does not travel immoderate governmental boundaries. What we were capable to bash aboriginal connected was bring the U.S. norms and attack to gathering companies and premix that with the Indian endowment and Indian capableness to get things done. India is precise entrepreneurial astatine getting things done," helium said.
The money helium co-founded successful 2006 was Nexus Venture Partners, which contiguous operates implicit $2 cardinal assets nether management. Nexus has backed respective promising startups including API level Postman, online classifieds level Olx, coding level WhiteHat Jr, and edtech Unacademy.
Gupta besides served arsenic a president of the committee of Red Hat anterior to the firm's acquisition by IBM.
Sumanth Raghavendra, a Bangalore-based entrepreneur, said successful a tweet that respective generations of Indian startups beryllium Gupta “a indebtedness of gratitude.”
He embodied everything affirmative that a laminitis looks for successful an investor, ever backing founders unconditionally, particularly erstwhile they were successful a pugnacious spot.
— Kunal Bahl (@1kunalbahl) December 26, 2021
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“Naren was a stalwart successful the planetary exertion and entrepreneurial ecosystems and a pioneer of Indian task capital. He was a mentor and a adjacent person to each of america astatine Nexus and we volition miss his passion, caring nature, and towering intellect," a money spokesperson said successful a connection Sunday evening.
"He is survived by his wife, Vinita Gupta, and 2 daughters. Our thoughts and prayers are with the household successful this precise hard time.”
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