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Venktesh Shukla receives inaugural MANIT alumni award
Shukla pledged a donation of INR one crore (US $11,99,910) to his alma mater to use for a project of their discretion.
Director of the MANIT handing over the award with Dr Jagdesh Kumar, Chairman of the University Grants Commisssion of India looking on. / Image - Supplied
Venktesh Shukla, the founder of California-based seed-stage venture capital firm Monta Vista based was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus award by his alma mater, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal
Shukla, who completed his electronics engineering degree from the institute in 1975, received the award during the institute’s 19th and 20th convocation ceremonies held recently.
During the occasion, Shukla pledged a donation of INR one crore (US $11,99,910) to MANIT “for any project as per the requirement and choice of the institute, authorities, to wish to take up,” a news release by the institute said. Additionally, he also declared a donation of INR one lakh (US $1,199) annually to the MANIT Alumni Association.
Speaking to the graduating class of 2022 and 2023, Shukla stressed the importance of technology in today’s everchanging environment. “The pace of change driven by technology is accelerating ever faster. It took old style land line telephone 75 years to reach 10 crore users, it took internet 7 years to reach 10 crore users.... Every such change represents a massive opportunity for those who know how to take advantage of the profound change.”
Venktesh Shukla addresses the graduating class / Supplied“Microsoft and Google are bigger than 185 countries in the world. The bigger the impact of technology in our personal and work lives, the bigger the opportunity in front of you,” Shukla added.
According to him, every forward-thinking business in the world is eyeing India as a potential talent hotspot. “The opportunity is in front of you and the competition for these opportunities is not open to all of India – only to those who happen to be like you….Be prepared, be proactive and thing big,” he advised the students.
In November, Monta Vista, Shukla's firm, raised $48 million in funding, its biggest round to date, to back business-to-business startups. Aviatrix, Tekion, and SafeAi are among the businesses that Monta Vista has invested in.
Aside from being the company's founder and managing director, Shukla is also the president, member of the board, and trustee of the Foundation For Excellence (FEE). The organization helps talented but underprivileged students in India realize their dream of making it big in STEM fields. FEE has awarded 18,000 scholarships to deserving students, as mentioned on Shukla’s LinkedIn page.
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