Wipro Ventures heads into new decade with a fresh pair of hands at its wheels
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru: Wipro Ventures’ new co-managing partner Ali Wasti is expected to drive a deeper focus on artificial intelligence at the $500-million corporate venture arm of Wipro Ltd. The investment firm recently appointed Wasti, a veteran investor in deep-tech startups, to replace Venu Pemmaraju, who retired from the company last week.
San Francisco-based Wasti was previously with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he was senior managing director and global head of investments at Pathfinder Ventures, HP’s venture arm. In his new role, Wasti will work alongside Biplab Adhya, Wipro Ventures’ co-managing partner who has been with the investment firm since it was started a decade ago. Although Wasti joined Wipro Ventures in January, the company has not yet publicly announced his appointment.
An MBA from Harvard Business School, Wasti began his career at IBM. At Pathfinder Ventures for over four years, he focused primarily on artificial intelligence, data infrastructure and cybersecurity, per his recent LinkedIn post. Pemmaraju, who co-steered Wipro’s venture arm for a decade and invested in companies like Vicarious, Tradeshift, and Lilt, announced his retirement on LinkedIn on 2 April.
An analyst attributed Wasti’s appointment to Wipro Ventures’ focus on AI. “With a big focus on AI, I believe they are looking for someone with more of a software background and proven track record," said R. Wang, founder of Constellation Research, a California-based tech consulting firm.
Wipro did not reply to queries emailed on Saturday. Also read | India’s Big Five IT firms were looking forward to rebound. Now all bets are off.
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