Parag Saxena

Parag Saxena is Founding General Partner and the CEO of New Silk Route Partners who also co-founded Vedanta Capital LLC, in 2006. Previously, he was CEO of INVESCO Private Capital; one of the oldest and largest venture capital firms in the US. During his 28-year tenure there were over 300 investments made, including, Amgen, Celgene, Costco, MetroPCS, PictureTel, Polycom, Staples and Starbucks. These investments have led to the creation or building of companies which have created over 500,000 jobs and enjoy a market value exceeding $500 billion. In addition to being an original investor in iconic companies such as Starbucks, Amgen, Polycom and Whole Foods, Parag led more than 90 investments for Chancellor and INVESCO Private Capital, a third of which have gone public. These investments include Amber Networks, Masimo, MetroPCS, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, as well as several companies which have gone public, including Alkermes, ARM Holdings, Celgene, Genomic Health, Indigo, Transgenomic and Volterra Parag is a multi-year member of Forbes’ Midas list (2006-2009) which ranks the World’s best global investors.

Parag has served on committees advising the Prime Minister of India on foreign direct investments and venture capital for the Planning Commission of India. Parag has provided recommendations on small business and venture capital to representatives of the US Congress. He is also a Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Heritage Fund as well as a Trustee of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He is on the Advisory Board of the Center for Advanced Studies on India at the University of Pennsylvania and is on the Indian Advisory Council of Brown University. Parag has been the President of TiE Tri-State (NY, CT, NJ) from 2003 to 2010. He is also on Mayor Bloomberg’s Applied Sciences NYC Advisory Committee.

Parag received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies.