Arun Gupta
Member of the Board of Directors
Arun Gupta is an accomplished mission-oriented executive with experience in US and International Venture Capital, Assessing Emerging Technologies, Scaling High-Growth Companies, Teaching Entrepreneurship, and Coordinating National Security & Tech Policy. Mr. Gupta currently is an Adjunct Professor/Senior Advisor to Provost at Georgetown University, Lecturer at Stanford University, and Venture Partner at Columbia Capital. Mr. Gupta maintains very active relationships in the emerging technology, entrepreneurship, public policy, and international finance communities.
As a Partner at Columbia Capital, Mr. Gupta’s investment career spanned seventeen years, with a focus on emerging tech-enabled services and infrastructure companies in AI, Cybersecurity, Mobile, Government Services, and SaaS/Cloud infrastructure sectors in the US and India. He is currently on the board or was previously involved with Columbia portfolio companies: Adjoined Consulting (acquired by Kanbay International, Inc.), Altamira (Acquired by Clearsky), Daz3D, Millennial Media (NYSE: MM), Endgame (acquired by Elastic), Riptech (acquired by Symantec Corporation), Softek Storage Holdings (acquired by IBM), Verato, Vubiquity (acquired by Amdocs) and Webs (acquired by Vistaprint). Prior to joining Columbia Capital in 2000, Mr. Gupta was at Carlyle Venture Partners focused on software investments. Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Gupta held positions in Arthur D. Little’s telecom and technology consulting practice and shared responsibility for establishing ADL’s management consulting operations in Mumbai 1995-98.
At Georgetown University, Mr. Gupta also serves on the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, and teaches Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital at McDonough School of Business. Mr. Gupta is actively engaged with initiatives related to Tech & Society, AI/Cybersecurity at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), and the Pivot Program – teaching business skills to returning citizens.
At Stanford University, Mr. Gupta serves on the Stanford in Washington (SIW) Advisory Board and currently teaches “Valley Meets Mission: Entrepreneurial Ventures in DC” at Stanford in Washington. The class highlights mission-oriented entrepreneurial opportunities through discussions with leaders at the intersection of the government, mission, technology, and entrepreneurship.
As a mission-focused technology angel investor, Mr. Gupta focuses on SaaS, GovTech, and Sustainable Food investments and currently serves on the board of directors or angel investor in 1901 Group (acquired by Leidos); FAST Acquisition Corp, restaurant and sustainable food SPAC (NYSE: FST); Morning Consult, a leading SaaS global data intelligence company; and Blacklynx, a leading provider of high-speed analytics solutions for the National Security market. Mr. Gupta also is a member of the board of directors of LMI.
Mr. Gupta received a B.S. degree with Distinction in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. degree in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.