Co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners, Naren Gupta passed away.
- ByStartupStory | December 27, 2021
Venture capitalist and co-founder of Nexus Venture Partners, Naren Gupta who helped plant Indian SaaS startups on the world map at the age of 73 on 25th of December. He also co-founded Integrated Systems, a software firm that was ultimately sold to Intel. After leaving the firm, he began to explore investment opportunities.
“My introduction to venture capital and investment was really accidental. I really had no plans to do it. But the opportunity seemed good, and I met lots of entrepreneurs and once in a while, I made investments.”, he said.
One of the earliest investments Gupta made was in an Indian startup, which against his urging, agreed to an acquisition offer. The deal made Gupta realize that if he had a formal venture fund, his portfolio startups would be in a position to take longer-term bets.“That’s why I got interested in venture in India. In 2005 and 2006, I made a number of trips and met hundreds of companies,” he said in a podcast. It was a bold bet. There were very few startups in India at the time and far fewer investors willing to back them. Nexus, additionally, was focusing on startups that solve problems faced by large enterprises. Its bet was that enterprises across the globe would find the solutions relevant.
“Technology really does not follow any political boundaries. What we were able to do early on was bring the U.S. norms and approach to building companies and mix that with the Indian talent and Indian capability to get things done. India is very entrepreneurial at getting things done,” he said.
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