{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use Indian English|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Parag Saxena | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|4|27}} | birth_place = Pune, Bombay State, India | alma_mater = IIT Bombay (BTech)<br>University of Pennsylvania (MBA) | occupation = Venture capitalist | spouse = }} '''Parag Saxena''' (Hindi:''' पराग सक्सेना'''; born April 27, 1955) is an Indian-American investment manager who is the co-founder and general partner of Vedanta Capital.<ref>[https://vedacap.com Vedanta Capital]</ref> He had previously founded Invesco Private Capital, a subsidiary of Invesco. He also co-founded and is CEO of New Silk Route, an Asia-focused venture capital firm.
== Early life and education == Saxena earned a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.<ref>[http://www.nsrpartners.com/team_parag_saxena.html Parag Saxena page], NSR website. Retrieved 2011-03-10.</ref>
== Career ==
Saxena started his career at Becton Dickinson as a product manager in 1978.<ref>[http://www.nriinternet.com/NRIentrepreneurs/USA/A_Z/S/Parag_Saxena/index.htm Parag Saxena-on Forbes' 2007 Midas List]. Nriinternet.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.</ref> He joined Citicorp Investment Management in 1983;<ref name="PEI spinout"/> the company became Chancellor Capital Management in 1988.<ref name="PEI spinout"/> Invesco acquired the company in 1998, and Saxena became the managing partner and founder of Invesco Private Capital, a subsidiary of Invesco.<ref name="PEI spinout">{{cite web |last1=Weinstock |first1=Suzanne |title=Invesco spin-out raising $350m fund |url=https://www.privateequityinternational.com/invesco-spin-out-raising-350m-fund/ |website=Private Equity International |access-date=May 19, 2025 |date=March 25, 2008}}</ref> Over the course of four years, he was on ''Forbes'' Midas List.<ref>{{cite web |title=#28 Parag Saxena |url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/99/midas09_Parag-Saxena_TDOH.html |website=Forbes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112072355/http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/99/midas09_Parag-Saxena_TDOH.html |archive-date=November 12, 2012 |date=January 29, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
He spent 23 years at Invesco Private Capital.<ref name="Goshal_qz.com"/> He stepped down as managing partner of Invesco Private Capital in April 2006, with the ''New York Times'' noting many investors had been leaving the company, and quoting him as noting that conflict among management and lawsuits against Invesco had made it increasingly hard to raise funds.<ref name="Richtel_nyt.com">{{Citation |last=Richtel |first=Matt |date=20 April 2006 |title=Venture capitalists find that when styles collide, companies can get hurt |work=The New York Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/business-venture-and-friendship-sours-after-insider-conviction/ |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref>
In May 2006, Saxena launched the New York-based diversified venture capital firm Vedanta, along with former Invesco executives Alessandro Piol and Howard Goldstein.<ref name="PEI spinout"/> In 2007, a $275-million collateralized fund obligation (CFO), originally founded in 2004, was acquired from Invesco by Vedanta, making Vedanta a spin-out of Invesco.<ref name="PEI spinout"/>
In 2006, he co-founded New Silk Route, an Asia-focused venture capital firm,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krishnan |first1=Aarati |title='The question is how much venture capital India can absorb' |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/investment-world/article2704374.ece |website=Business Line |publisher=The Hindu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216002311/http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/investment-world/article2704374.ece |archive-date=February 16, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> with Rajat Gupta and Raj Rajaratnam, as well as Mark Schwartz, a Goldman Sachs veteran who left New Silk Route in 2008.<ref name="Goshal_qz.com"/> Saxena is CEO of the company.<ref name="Goshal_qz.com"/> The fund closed to investors in late 2008.<ref name="Goshal_qz.com">{{Citation |last=Ghoshal |first=Devjyot |date=21 August 2014 |title=How to run a $1 billion fund after both your co-founders go to jail |publisher=Quartz |url=https://qz.com/india/249120/how-to-run-a-1-billion-fund-after-both-your-co-founders-go-to-jail |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref> Gupta filed a lawsuit against Saxena in 2013, alleging Saxena in 2012 started limiting his access to New Silk Route after Gupta had been sentenced in 2012 for securities fraud; the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in 2013 for being irrelevant.<ref>{{Citation |last=Chitnis |first=Deepak |date=5 December 2013 |title=Rajat Gupta's lawsuit against Parag Saxena dismissed by court |publisher=American Bazaar|url=https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2013/12/05/rajat-guptas-lawsuit-parag-saxena-dismissed-court/ |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref>
==Personal life== Saxena is married to Usha Saxena, and they have several children together.<ref name="Saxena Family">{{Citation|date=23 February 2022 |title=$10 Million Gift from Saxena Family to Expand the Study of South Asia |publisher=Brown University|url=https://watson.brown.edu/southasia/news/2022/10-million-gift-saxena-family-expand-study-south-asia |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref> In 2022 the couple gave $10 million to Brown University to expand the study of South Asia, and the university renamed its Center for Contemporary South Asia to the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia.<ref name="Saxena Family"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxena, Parag}} Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople from Pune Category:Private equity and venture capital investors Category:Wharton School alumni Category:IIT Bombay alumni