Chiratae Ventures Recognizes Three Tech Leaders

Photo: (Left to Right) MR Rangaswami, Founder of Indiaspora,Shantanu Narayen, Dr. Srikar Reddy, Indian Consul General, San Francisco, Pat McGovern III, Sudhir Sethi

India-West Staff Reporter

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The global VC fund Chiratae Ventures announced that it had given three awards recently: In Palo Alto, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was given the Global Lifetime Achievement Award, in another ceremony Postman CEO and founder Abhinav Asthana was recognized with the Exceptional Entrepreneurial Achievement Award and in Bengaluru, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy was given the India Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Chiratae Ventures is a global venture capital fund headquartered in Bengaluru with investors and portfolio spanning worldwide.  Established in 2016, the Chiratae Ventures Patrick J. McGovern awards commemorate Patrick J. McGovern, anchor investor of Chiratae’s first fund and the founder of International Data Group.

 Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman, Chiratae Ventures said about the awardees, “These leaders exemplify a unique combination of technology vision, business acumen, world-class engineering, ethical stewardship, and entrepreneurial talent.”

Narayen’s nearly 20-year leadership of Adobe through changing technological periods personifies the role of a global leader. Accepting the award  he said, “The Chiratae McGovern award is really about Adobe and the work of our 30,000 employees. We’ve always believed that innovation is at our core, customers are at the centre of everything that we do and are central to our success. This award is really a testament in many ways to the power of technology to drive change and drive change for good.”

Asthana founded Postman in India, and later expanded to open offices in San Francisco, which currently serves as the company’s global headquarters. He said, “An entrepreneur’s journey is never run alone—I owe this to my fantastic co-founders, amazing employees, incredible customers, supportive investors, and, of course, my parents and family, who have stood by me through my growth as an engineer and entrepreneur. This recognition belongs to all of them.”

Infosys was the first Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ in 1999. Under founder Murthy’s leadership, Infosys has led the largest experiment in the democratization of wealth in India by distributing over 19% of Infosys equity to its employees.  “I am very grateful to Chirate Ventures, to Sudhir and his team for this kindness, generosity, and affection in awarding me the Lifetime Achievement Award named after Patrick J. McGovern. I am doubly happy that I am in the company of some extraordinary personalities like John Chambers, Indra Nooyi, Azim Premji, Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani, and Kris Gopalakrishnan among many other distinguished people,” Murthy said.

“My father believed in the power of timely, provocative, and accurate information to empower people to improve society and to create a more connected world. With that in mind, the companies, and technologies that Shantanu, Abhinav and Narayana built or nurtured make them an extremely worthy recipient of this year’s awards,” said Pat McGovern III, Chairman of the Board of The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Chair of the Jury of the Awards, and Regional Advisor (US), Chiratae Ventures.