Naren Bakshi

Naren Bakshi (born 1943) is a Jain Indian-American serial entrepreneur. In 1992, Bakshi founded Versata, which later went public in 2000. He is also the Founder of Xpede, CEOJumpStart, Harbinger Real Estate, and the International Venture Group. He is an angel investor and mentor to several start-ups and is a Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and has served as a Trustee of TiE Global. He was the founding Chairman of the first Indian Community Center in North America in Cleveland, Ohio and is currently serving as a Trustee of the Indian Community Center in Milpitas, California.

Bakshi was born to Tara Chand Jain Bakshi and Munna Devi Bakshi in Jaipur, India. His father is a MSc, LLB, and doctor of naturopathy. Bakshi’s paternal grandfather, Kesar Lal Bakshi, was a community leader and self-made real estate developer in Jaipur. Bakshi was raised as a Jain and was highly influenced by the philosophies of Jainism and Gandhi while growing up.

He obtained his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi, India. He holds an M.S. in Industrial Engineering (1968) and an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing (1969) from the University of California, Berkeley. Bakshi and a small group of Indian students founded UC Berkeley’s first Indian Association, and he served as its first President.

After graduating from UC Berkeley in 1969, Bakshi moved to Cleveland, Ohio to work for Standard Oil and British Petroleum. He later served in various management positions at TRW from 1980 to 1991. He also served as Vice President of Information Services at Ameritrust Bank. While in Cleveland, he was Founding Chairman of the first Indian Community Center in North America in 1976.

After moving back to the Bay Area in 1989, he founded Versata in 1992 and served as President, CEO and Chairman of Versata, a company that went public in 2000 with over $1 Billion valuation. On the day of its IPO, Versata created more than 150 millionaires on paper. Naren Bakshi is also a Founding Partner of CEOJumpStart. He co-founded Xpede in 1998, a provider of e-commerce lending services to major financial institutions. Bakshi now serves as the Chairman of the Board of Xpede. He has served as an advisor to TekEdge, 123SignUp, and Magnifi.

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