Saurabh Srivastava
Co-founder IAN/ IAN Fund & NASSCOM, Angel Investor & VC
Saurabh Srivastava is one of India’s leading entrepreneurs, investors and institution builders. The President of India has awarded him the Padma Shri in recognition of his contribution to the creation of a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in India and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has presented him an Award for his contribution to the Indian IT Industry.
He co-founded and Chaired key institutions of modern India focussed on IT and entrepreneurship: The IT Industry Body NASSCOM; Indian Venture Capital Association; TiE(the world’s largest not for profit organization focussed on fostering entrepreneurship with 15,000 members in 60 Chapters across 15 countries); Indian Angel Network, India’s first and amongst the world’s largest angel groups with over 200 portfolio companies, 500+ investor members globally, operations in 8 locations, including London and Israel.
He founded India’s first private sector VC Fund which created companies like Indiabulls and Avendus. He has been involved in investing in around 100 start-ups and has personally mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs. He was an Investment Committee member of the Government’s Start up Fund of Funds, served on the Investment Committees of two SIDBI VC Funds and is on the board of the Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund.
His public service commitments have included being a member of the National Innovation Council, SEBI Committee on Alternative Investment Funds, Software Technology Parks of India, Bombay Stock Exchange Hi-Tech Advisory Panel,Telecom Centre of Excellence, Railway Expert Committee, PM’s Empowered Committee for Awards on Excellence in Public Administration and the National Expert Advisory Committee on Innovation, Incubation and Technology Entrepreneurship.
After a successful stint in the US and India with IBM, he headed Tata Unisys, before turning to entrepreneurship. He founded several successful IT companies including one which was ranked amongst the top 15 companies in India, was the first to get ISO 9001 ( before Infosys and TCS) and was listed, post-merger, on the London Stock Exchange with revenues of $800 mill. He serves/has served on the boards of reputed public companies from the US, UK and India.
He served on the Advisory Board of Imperial College Business School London, was adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at IIT Mumbai, is Chairman of IIIT Naya Raipur and on the Board of Governors of IIT Kanpur.
He has a Masters from Harvard University, a B Tech from IIT Kanpur and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Technology by the University of Wolverhampton, UK. Other Awards include “Distinguished Alumnus Award” from IIT, the Data Quest Lifetime Achievement Award for IT, the Lifetime Achievement Award from IVCA for his contribution to angel and VC investing and the Patrick J McGovern Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship ( other awardees include Ratan Tata and Nandan Nilekani).