Busy angel investor proving Calgary is a rewarding place to do business
Describing himself as a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Neeraj Gupta made the move to Calgary in 2019 and has become a huge promoter of this city as a place to live and conduct his businesses.
Gupta was born in northern India, the eldest child of his bank manager father who soon found he had a passion for technology. He was accepted into the India Institute of Technology in Roorkee, renowned for its academic excellence, and was recognized as top of his class when he graduated with a B.tech. in metallurgical and material science.
That earned him a scholarship for study for his master's in scientific computing and mathematics at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
On his return home, he was invited to further his studies in Europe at one of the premier engineering and technology universities in the world. But while waiting for his visa, Gupta decided to co-found a company. He says struggling for two years through its demise was the best MBA lesson he could have ever earned.
Undaunted, realizing he loved business, he forgot about more study and started another company in 2006.
This time he was more careful and, focused on innovation and intellectual property, by 2009 he was running established offices in India, Sweden and the U.S.
His success led him to become an angel investor. The first three companies failed, but in a 10-year period he was investing in and helping 37 startup companies that did well.
Gupta became recognized as a sophisticated, beneficial investor, building on his seven pillars of data, talent, domain, research/ IP collaboration, infrastructure, market access and access to funding, now advising on cross-border entrepreneurship and innovation to multiple international organizations.
Gupta is intensely interested in helping startup companies. There are thousands in India and he looked elsewhere for a place where he felt he could make an impact. He had successful business experiences in Europe, but his research led him to Calgary with its oil and gas industry that understood technology innovation, the government was stable and trade-centric, and offered gateway to all of North America — and he soon discovered everyone here wants you to be successful.
He became chief strategy officer and adviser to the CEO at Attabotics, is co-founder and investor of Formulateip, and co-founder and CEO of Lawcubator Technologies, a Saas-based platform for organizations in Canada and India to manage workplace legal compliance and HR regulations.
And he continues to be an angel investor helping to improve successful startup companies in a city Gupta says is a great base for growth in North America.
His work over the past five years in nurturing companies has been recognized by a host of organizations wishing to benefit from his guidance.
Currently, Gupta is a principal adviser to the entrepreneurship in health-care program at Bow Valley College, chief adviser for technology and innovation investment to Invest Alberta, adviser to Calgary Economic Development, Canadian Blockchain Consortium and University of Alberta Innovation Fund, and a board member of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and Platform Calgary.
Gupta continues to sing the praises of Calgary, where, besides his business successes, he, his wife and twin nine-year-old daughters have made many friends.
A busy man who has to find the time to travel to his offices in Bangalore, India, and in the U.S., he is the proud author of a new book, in collaboration with the governments of India and Germany — “Creating and Safeguarding a Strong Intellectual Property Portfolio'.
NOTES
Investors continue to expand their presence in the Calgary area with the announcement that Concert Income Properties has acquired Rocky View Business Park in the Balzac area of Rocky View County. Completed in 2015 along Dwight Mclellan Trail, the multi-tenant industrial warehouse and distribution facility sits on 24.38 acres spanning 436,291 square feet and comprises three fully leased buildings. Vancouver-based Concert Income Properties has 2.5 million square feet of industrial buildings in Alberta.
Sad to report that after 23 years of sharing fine wine and spirits, the Cellar Wine Store, below ground on Stephen Avenue, has closed for business.