Giri Devanur
Giri Devanur is a serial entrepreneur who founded Ivega Corporation in 1997, an international niche IT consulting company with special focus on financial services. After its merger with TCG Software, Giri Devanur managed a 1000 people team as the CEO of TCG-Ivega. He resigned from Ivega as CEO in 2006 to focus on his vision: Gandhi City, India's only R&D focused Special Economic Zone, founded in 2006. He has invested in two other tech start-ups and serves on their boards. Giri Devanur firmly believes in a family legacy that of educating and empowering people. An entrepreneur with a clear vision of his personal contribution of society, Giri Devanur aims to not only carry – on this legacy but also to build upon it by facilitating the creation and sharing of wealth. Giri Devanur is also the Chairman of Avyay Education Trust which helps poor rural students to carry out their advanced education. Giri Devanur is a successful entrepreneur with copious experience in steering many companies since their inception. He is directly responsible in planning and executing corporate strategy, fund raising, sales, investor relations, client servicing and inorganic growth. He has been involved with 5 acquisitions, 1 merger and 6 rounds of capital infusion from VCs and Private equity firms. His acquisitions include QBar Consulting, Amoolya Software, InfoStrands and Entelligentia. QBar’s was an IT consultancy firm with expertise in financial services and internet projects. QBar’s acquisition gave a head-start to Ivega’s operation in the UK. During this time, Ivega received $7 – million as second round venture capital funding from Chrysalis Capital, Bank of Madura and also from certain private investors. Apart from these acquisitions, Giri Devanur also led the joint venture between Ivega and Valtech, as part of Ivega’s entry strategy into the European markets. Valtech is a pioneer and a thought leader in the field of agile software development. They have developed unique agile adoption methodology by building on the extensive experience, accrued over the past Eleven years. Giri Devanur also invested in Sakhatech an IT startup and Agriwatch a leading commodity research, publication and consulting company. He exited from both these ventures in 2010. In 2006, Giri Devanur created Gandhi City for Advanced Research and Development which is meant to be India’s first and only Research Park spread over an area of 1000 acres near Ramnagaram, Bangalore. This is a “first of a kind” Research and Development Park in Karnataka. The company is under the process of land acquisition which is the primary act in the development of this Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Gandhi City has signed a partnership agreement with Research Triangular Park, world’s largest research park in North Carolina, USA. Gandhi City has received investments from Och-Ziff, a globally renowned Hedge Fund of New York, USA. Gandhi City is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) initiated in Bangalore for Research & Development that has the potential to accelerate the region’s growth and emerge as a leading-edge technology cluster. Gandhi City attracted investors and partnership requests from all over the world. The US-based investment bank and global financial services Lehman Brothers chose Gandhi City for making its first major investment in India. Lehman Brothers committed to invest up to $300 million in the Special Economic Zone, in two tranches, with $80 million in the first tranche. According to Giri Devanur the founder of Gandhi City, After the Completion of Gandhi City’s infrastructure it will be focusing on multiple disciplines, such as, Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences; Automotive and Aviation; Technology and Communication, and Agricultural sciences in association with educational institutions. It would be first of its kind Special Economic Zone modeled on the lines of Stanford Research Park, US. Such an ecosystem would facilitate the building of a knowledge capital that would consequently promote entrepreneurial spirit and foster innovation thus converting abstract ideas into world class products and services. The Gandhi City initiative provides an exemplary model of innovative partnering to achieve community benefits. The Research and Development Park will deliver a substantial return on investment to all public and private partners because it builds on existing synergies. With an estimated 10,000 employees and $8-10 billion in anticipated economic impact, the Research and Development Park will become a home for a large group of employers. This will lead in increased employment levels and tax revenues for the State and Central Government, as well as an improved ability to compete internationally. The Research and Development Park will strengthen the reputation of Bangalore and Karnataka as truly one of the best places in which to invest, to work and live. The Park will enhance the local economy through the creation of jobs and knowledge transfer. The information technology sector, which includes significant portions of advanced manufacturing, is the fastest growing sector in India, representing significant percentage of all employment. The life quality of current residents of the region will also be improved, since the Gandhi City will help the region retain business activities, jobs and high – tech community. Industry leading innovators are growing tomorrow’s technology today, and strengthening India’s international competitiveness, so the introduction of Gandhi City under the uphill struggle of Giri Devanur and his side will be an add on. Giri Devanur, prior to founding Ivega has managed the development and maintenance of trading systems for Bank of America Securities LLC. He has also been associated with different organizations like Lerros Gmbh, Mexx international, and Manhattan Associates and worked in Germany, Holland, USA and India. Giri Devanur holds a degree in Computer Engineering from University of Mysore. He has also attended executive education programs at MIT, Cambridge.
