Mr. Pavan Nigam is a highly successful serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist who credited with building and nurturing some of the world-class companies. He shot to fame with the phenomenal success of his co-founded company WebMD that went on to become the largest e-health company in the world and one of the most reputed consumer brands.
Later, he co-founded many companies. In 2011, he set up Inspovation Ventures and since then has invested in dozens of sparkling ideas and turned them into running enterprises. In 2018, IIT Kanpur conferred upon him the prestigious Distinguished Alumnus Award for entrepreneurial and management excellence.
Mr. Nigam obtained a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1980 and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, in 1982. For the next 4 years, he worked with Intel as an engineering lead before joining the cutting-edge tech firm Silicon Graphics where he led the deployment of Time Warner Inc's interactive TV project widely recognized as the most advanced ITV system ever created.
In 1996, Mr. Nigam started his entrepreneurial journey when he co-founded a company that revolutionized the healthcare system in the USA. The WebMD, formerly known as Healtheon, is the most trusted leader in the world for health-care information and IT. The launch of the company's multibillion-dollar IPO in 1999 turned out to be one of the most significant corporate events of the Internet era. Mr. Nigam's role as a co-founder, chief technology officer and EVP at WebMD has been extensively profiled in the bestseller The New New Thing by Michael Lewis. He successfully exited the company in 2002.
As the saying goes, once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. "While on holiday I was restless, not knowing what to do. And after considering several start-ups, I zeroed in on Web applications." Continuing with his love for challenges, Mr. Nigam started Cendura Corporation largely with his own money and within a short span of time developed it into a market leader for data-center automation. Later, in 2006, the company was acquired by the Computer Associates. He also co-founded a consumer Internet company called Trackle.
After experiencing phenomenal success as an entrepreneur, Mr. Nigam decided to diversify his portfolio and co-founded an angel investment firm called Inspovation Ventures with the ambition of nurturing the most innovative and sparkling startup ideas and turning them into world-class companies. "We like to partner with founding teams that have a balance of deep technical experience and business acumen. It's also vital that they are well versed with the target market and domain." The firm has built many companies in the areas such as mobile, cloud and Artificial Intelligence, for instance, Firebase, Flutter and Appurify (all acquired by Google); Swell (acquired by Apple); Vocalnet (acquired by Jive), Credibase, Opsclarity, Skyline Labs, Mediaspike, Learnup, Shopsocially, Benu and many more.
Mr. Nigam serves on the boards of several companies and not-for-profit organizations. He is also the founder of the Silicon Valley Badgers and the IIT Kanpur Entrepreneurship Forum, two of the largest alumni-led entrepreneurial groups. He is an active member of the Band of Angels and TiE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs) Angels.
Besides his outstanding contributions as an entrepreneur and angel investor, Mr. Nigam is also involved with many community initiatives. He is the Advisory Chairman of the Kick, Lead and Dream Organization, which was founded by his children and is now the largest all volunteer summer camp for at-risk youth in the Bay Area. He also founded the Computer Learning Center for underprivileged children in Kanpur, India.
Mr. Nigam lives in Los Altos, CA and loves to travel, hike, golf and mostly spend time with his family. He is an avid sports fan and closely follows his beloved 49ers and Badgers.
