Kanwal Rekhi

Kanwal Singh Rekhi
Born	(1945-08-29) August 29, 1945 India
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, venture capitalist
Known for	First Indian-American founder and CEO to take a venture-backed company public on Nasdaq; co-founder of Excelan and TiE; managing director of Inventus Capital Partners

Kanwal Singh Rekhi (born August 29, 1945) is an Indian-American entrepreneur notable for being the first Indian-American founder and CEO to successfully bring a venture-backed company to the public markets via the Nasdaq exchange.

Career

Rekhi’s professional journey started in engineering and management roles before he co-founded Excelan in 1982, based in San Jose, California. The company specialized in producing advanced Ethernet hardware. By 1985, Rekhi had assumed the roles of president and CEO. Excelan launched its initial public offering on the Nasdaq in 1987 and later merged with Novell in 1989. At Novell, Rekhi held the positions of executive vice-president and chief technology officer, also serving on the board until his retirement in 1995. He subsequently led CyberMedia as CEO from January to September 1998, prior to its merger with Network Associates (currently known as McAfee).

Beginning in 1994, Rekhi transitioned into a full-time role as an angel investor, providing capital to more than 50 startup ventures and spearheading early-stage financing for 23 firms. His investments have yielded 21 successful exits, including six companies going public. He played a consultative role with Indian government officials on venture capital policy reforms that enabled the establishment of funds, becoming the founding limited partner of Infinity Capital-India, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on India.

In 2007, Rekhi co-established Inventus Capital Partners, where he currently serves as managing director. His investment portfolio features companies such as GENWI, Salorix, Poshmark, and Sierra Atlantic, which was acquired by Hitachi Consulting.

Rekhi is also a co-founder of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), launched in 1995 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Indian American entrepreneurs through mentorship, networking opportunities, and funding access. He has provided strategic advice to the Prime Minister of India regarding growth in the IT sector and held a trustee position on TiE’s global board. Furthermore, he formerly chaired the Centre for Civil Society.

Philanthropy

In 2000, Rekhi contributed $5 million to Michigan Tech. Additionally, he donated $3 million to IIT Bombay to create the "Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology (KReSIT)," which was eventually integrated into the computer science and engineering department.

Awards and recognition

Rekhi earned the Bina Chaudhuri Award for Distinguished Service from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2003. Earlier, in 1987, he was honored as "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Arthur Young and Venture magazine.

External links

• Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology, IIT-B