Naren Gupta, a co-founder of Menlo Park-based Nexus Venture Partners and a pioneer of venture capital in India, died Saturday. He was 73 and died of a heart attack.
“Naren was a stalwart in the global technology and entrepreneurial ecosystems and a pioneer of Indian venture capital. He was a mentor and a close friend to all of us at Nexus and we will miss his passion, caring nature and towering intellect,” a Nexus spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.
Gupta came to the United States to pursue postgraduate studies, first at Caltech where he received a master's in aeronautics in 1970 and then at Stanford University where he earned his Ph.D. in applied mechanics in 1974.
In 1980, Gupta co-founded Integrated Systems Inc., an information technology services company that he took public in 1990 and led as CEO until 1994 and as chairman until 2000. That year, the company merged with Wind River Systems and Gupta returned to the CEO role of the new combined company on an interim basis.
Gupta launched Nexus Venture Partners in 2006, establishing offices outside in Silicon Valley in India, in Mumbai and Bangalore, with a focus on helping nurture early-stage Indian startups and giving them an opening to the U.S. market. Among the Nexus-backed companies in Silicon Valley that Gupta had in his portfolio were Aryaka Networks in San Mateo, and San Jose-based Sibros.
"Naren's modesty belied his fearlessness in staking out new paths in the world of technology," Caltech president Thomas Rosenbaum said in a statement. "He believed fiercely in the power of fundamental research and the contributions that our students could make. The Caltech community will miss his leadership and friendship."
Besides his work in venture and startups, Gupta also was a board member and adviser to CEOs of large companies. In 2017, he was named chairman of the board of Red Hat Inc., where he had been a member of the board since 2005. He helped guide Red Hat through its $34 billion acquisition by IBM.
Gupta is survived by wife, Vinita Gupta, and two daughters, Anneka and Serena.
