Tech co-founder embraces 'second act' at global VC fund

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In his first job at Nortel Networks, Aditya Pendyala realized that he had a “startup aura,” and he has never looked back. Today he is a partner in the venture capital firm FEBE Ventures – the acronym stands for For Entrepreneurs By Entrepreneurs.

“As a VC firm we invest in people who have a bias for action,” Pendyala says of his role. FEBE invests globally in such sectors as B2B, healthcare, sustainability and climate tech.

Pendyala is one of four co-founders of Mnubo Inc., a Montreal-based software company that launched in 2012 offering IoT (internet of things) analytics and artificial intelligence solutions to manufacturers of smart products. In 2019, Mnubo was acquired by U.S.-based Aspen Technology Inc.

Today, the largest chunk of Aditya’s wealth and focus is in private companies, and he says he attributes his success to “learning how to ask why.” He feels fulfilled being part of a VC fund that shares his values regarding investment in other founders.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?

I was born in a small town in southern India called Vijayawada. My dad worked in the steel industry, and when I was six, we moved to Kenya during their industrial revolution. My mom was a schoolteacher. Money wasn’t a primary motivator in our family: we had a very modest upbringing. A desire to grow in learnings and experiences was a core family trait, versus wealth accumulation.

My parents actively invested in a sense of connection with the family – and with oneself. We were in a foreign land and very curious in immersing ourselves in this unique experience, focusing more on the natural, social and cultural aspects of life. Africa offers you a chance to be grounded in your surroundings and you certainly have a feeling of being one with nature. I spent around 12 years at a very structured British curriculum school but I regularly had the opportunity to go off to explore the wondrous land.

What was behind your decision to move to Montreal?

I met my wife Diya in Kenya while she was on a safari – she was visiting from Hong Kong. She was 16 and I was 17. She was and is my first and only love. Most people leave Kenya to further their studies, and most often they go to the U.K., Australia, Canada or the U.S. I chose Canada because the academic system seemed like a natural extension for me, and McGill University offered diversity and cultivated a global mindset.

I moved to Montreal to study electrical engineering at McGill, and Diya moved to Boston to study industrial design. We had a long-distance relationship for many years, got married, settled in Montreal, and we have two beautiful little girls. Family will always be my spiritual anchor … and the bond I share with my family is my true wealth.

Your first job was at Nortel. What did you learn about yourself?

At Nortel I led a small team of engineers working on real world next-gen LTE (4G) deployment. This was quite an uncertain phase for me because although I have always been very passionate and very driven, I could sense that there was a huge gap, a void, between what school teaches you and what you do in the workplace.

Startups, especially in Canada, weren’t as big back in 2007, but at that time at Nortel I really liked doing creative startup-type things – things that were ambiguous, like figuring out how to build bridges between technology and actual business needs. I gradually realized that I had what I would call a ‘startup aura’ and from then on, I was intent on working at and with startups.

How did your career evolve from there?

After a short stint at iBwave Solutions working as an engineer, I was then poached by Blueslice Networks where I led and coordinated all of product management and marketing initiatives. This is where I developed skills on the business side of technology.

That was a very different role for me, and I had to unwind some of my engineering training, which was always about solving a problem. I learned to ask why – I needed to get to the source of the question to understand how to align business initiatives with technical solutions. I wanted to learn more, so while at Blueslice I took a summer course at McGill and two years later when we were acquired by Tekelec, I also pursued my MBA in strategy and finance at Concordia University.

What was the big idea behind Mnubo?

All four of the co-founders of Mnubo were on the Blueslice management team and we each had distinct journeys that led us to the point of starting Mnubo in 2012. I can now see that we are a sum of the best parts from each of us.

The original idea for the company started with Fred Bastien and I in 2011 when we drew a diagram of a customer’s machine-to-machine communications (now usually called IoT or Internet of Things) on a whiteboard. We were trying to figure out: Why are these things getting connected? And why are they not getting the full business value from their IoT investment? We had lots of exposure to machine-to-machine while at Blueslice and we took all of the lessons that we learned in there and did some intense reflection. We realized that the enterprises weren’t really tapping into the data from connected things. We asked ourselves why not? The customers were all manufacturers – they weren’t data engineers. Technology is required to harness and mine data. AI (artificial intelligence) wasn’t a popular term back then. We came up with the idea that we would democratize how AI can be used for markets such as connected product manufacturers.

The premise of Mnubo is layering business intelligence and analytics on top of the data generated by connected things. The ‘m’ in Mnubo is for machine-to-machine and ‘nubo’ means cloud in Latin. Our vision was that the more you can democratize data, the faster you can help these enterprises adapt. Make the insights accessible and actionable. We came up with an Ikea-like solution where we enable AI for asset-intensive industries that generate data.

Mnubo became one of the leading providers of IoT analytics solutions for smart product manufacturers.

What happened after Mnubo was acquired by Aspen Technology?

This could be considered as one of the Canadian startup success stories: there is great synergy between the two companies. A lot of the original team members have stayed on. Post-acquisition, I stayed for three years helping to grow the business and defining the corporate strategy around how to differentiate the company in the world of industrial AI.

What type of work are you doing today and why?

As I continued to struggle with what the second leg of my career would look like, I realized that up until that point I had been going deep … but not broad. I started fostering networks with more of a focus on the people and the ‘why’ rather than the ‘what’ and ‘how.’ A successful professional avenue is a huge enabler for personal growth, and I wanted to be of service. And I wanted to feel more fulfilled in life.

I recently signed on as a partner at FEBE. My decision had been a work in progress for quite some time. The name FEBE stands for “For Entrepreneurs By Entrepreneurs” – the team shares similar values around wanting to be the first partner to founders, helping them build impactful, long-term sustainable businesses.

FEBE was founded in 2019, and its first fund focused on Southeast Asia. The recently launched second fund’s investment thesis is pre-seed and seed-stage companies across different geographies and sectors including B2B, healthcare, sustainability and climate tech. FEBE is taking a more global approach now. There are two things we look for in a founder: ‘an owner’s mindset’ and ‘think global, act local.’ We want to see founders who can make an impact at a more regional level to truly uplift their societies and economies at large.

What’s in your investment portfolio?

I own some blue chip public stocks for family security – kids’ education and potential retirement. A large part of my wealth is in private companies because of my age and risk tolerance, but mainly because I believe that wealth can be created through action and intention.

With markets and technology emerging so rapidly you can’t be rigid with regard to sector or industry allocation – and diversity will be critical to unearth opportunities. I believe the most impactful areas will be those in which the upcoming wave of transformative technologies enhances the way businesses, societies, and industries strive for a state of continuous and sustainable equilibrium, aligning humanity’s collective aspiration for growth with the essential needs of our planet. Our fund is a collection of the experience of ex-entrepreneurs who are on a similar life path of giving back. We are part of a larger flywheel, working on how we can make the world better than we found it.

What do you do for ‘me time’ or fun?

I wake up in the morning and dedicate about an hour or so each day solely to myself. My daily practice might include a workout, yoga, reading a book or meditation: I like to get playful with my internal thoughts and reflections. At 8:15 p.m., after we put our girls to bed, I tell my wife that our next life is about to begin and we’ll go on a date or maybe watch a movie or see friends. As I mentioned, there are many lives to nurture within a single day, and that’s what makes life truly fulfilling.

We live in Bali for now, and as a unit our family loves spending hours outdoors going for hikes in the mountains and looking at waterfalls. When I’m with my kids I enjoy reliving being a child – this is when I feel I’m having complete uninhibited fun, and can truly be in the present.

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Writer Barbara Stewart is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 30 years of investment industry experience. She spent five years as a foreign currency trader, more than two decades as a portfolio manager for high-net-worth entrepreneurs, and for the past six years she has been performing interview-driven research for financial institutions around the world.  Barbara is a keynote speaker for CFA Societies, banks, stock exchanges and industry conferences globally, and she is a columnist for CFA Institute and Canadian Money Saver magazine. She is on the advisory board of Kensington Capital Partners and also is the Ambassador for the Kensington Women’s Forum. In addition, 13 years ago Barbara saw a need to challenge outdated financial industry stereotypes and share positive messages about women and money. Today, Barbara is recognized worldwide as one of the leading researchers in women and finance. Her Rich Thinking® global research papers quote smart women and men of all ages, professions and countries and are released annually on International Women’s Day, March 8. To find out more about Barbara’s research, visit www.barbarastewart.ca.

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