Umang Gupta

Umang Gupta (August 3, 1949 – April 19, 2022) was an Indian-American entrepreneur and Silicon Valley, California, executive credited with writing the first business plan for Oracle Corporation. He was also the founder of enterprise software company Gupta Technologies and was later the CEO of Keynote Systems.

Early life

Gupta was born on August 23, 1949, in Patiala, the son of Ramnika Gupta and Ved Prakash Gupta. His mother was a politician and activist, while his father worked with the Indian labor ministry. He was raised by his father, Mr. Ved Prakash Gupta after his parents separated when he was a young child. He obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1971. During his time at IIT Kanpur, Gupta was exposed to the first IBM computers in the country helping him develop his computer programming skills. After emigrating to the United States, Gupta also earned an MBA from Kent State University. In 1996, Umang received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Kanpur. In the 1980s, products of Gupta Technologies included interfaces for programming custom applications and tools for programmers with a background in Cobol, dBase, or Visual Basic. Gupta was the first executive who had worked under Larry Ellison to start his own company. Gupta was able to negotiate the merger between Keynote and Vividence in 2004 after meeting Vividence CEO Peter Watkins at a poker game.

Other Gupta served as an advisor and investor in William Draper’s project to establish a venture capital fund for India in 1994. He served on the board of Mosaix, a company that developed call-center software, from 1997 to 1999, before it was sold to Lucent Technologies.

After selling Keynote Systems, Gupta dedicated his efforts to education for young children, founding SeaShells Education. One of his main initiatives was Reading Racer. Gupta developed the Reading Racer app with a team including Carnegie Mellon graduates Melanie Lam and Rodrigo Cano and also launched a foundation to continue support for Reading Racer. Gupta also began investing in educational technology companies such as Front Row Education.

In 2000, Gupta was honored with the Shreyas Mavanoor Foundation Award and helped to found Raji House, a respite home for the developmentally disabled, located in Burlingame, California. Gupta also had an avid interest in history and served as Chairman of the Board and on the President’s Advisory Committee of the San Mateo County Historical Association (SMCHA); SMCHA operated the San Mateo County History Museum, where he and his wife helped sponsor the "Immigrants Gallery", also known as the “Land of Opportunity” Exhibit, a permanent exhibition to honor the contributions of immigrants to San Mateo County. Gupta and his wife Ruth also contributed $500,000 for the renovation of the San Mateo County History Museum, which was acknowledged as the biggest private contribution received by the museum. He participated as an angel investor and advisor to various Silicon Valley technology companies.

Personal life Gupta was married to Ruth Gupta, an immigrant from the United Kingdom. The couple had two sons and a daughter. One of his sons died at an early age. The couple founded Raji House, a support center for developmentally disabled children. The center was associated with Partners & Advocates for Remarkable Children & Adults.

Gupta died on April 19, 2022, at his home in San Mateo, California, at the age of 72. He was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer more than two years earlier.