Setauket man tapped to head IT services software firm

Yogesh Gupta, of Setauket, thinks he's ready to build a billion-dollar software company, and he's got some strong financial backing for that conviction.

Gupta, 52 and the former chief executive of Mineola-based FatWire Software, was appointed chief executive last month of Kaseya Int'l Ltd., an information technology services management software firm incorporated in Switzerland. He takes the post in the wake of a major investment in Kaseya by private equity firm Insight Venture Partners.

The amount of the investment, which gave Insight majority ownership, was not disclosed.

Kaseya does business in more than 20 countries, providing IT services to midmarket companies with 100 to 5,000 employees. The size of that potential customer base fuels Gupta's belief that he's on the path toward growth.

"That's a huge market," he said in an interview with Newsday last week. "We believe we can be the next billion-dollar software company in this market. How do we get there? Bring in new production, through innovation as well as acquisitions . . . and have real focus on our customer base."

Though Gupta may have a long way to go -- analysts estimate Kaseya's revenues to be about $100 million -- he's already taking steps.

Two weeks after Gupta joined Kaseya, the company announced the acquisition of San Jose, Calif.-based Zyrion Inc., a cloud computing software company. Tuesday, the company acquired Atlanta, Ga.-based Rover Apps LLC, which provides secure cloud computing services for personal mobile devices.

Taking the reins at Kaseya also means Gupta will be returning to the familiar space of IT management software -- the same industry as his former employer, Islandia-based CA Technologies, Inc. Gupta worked at CA for more than 18 years, eventually serving as the company's chief technology officer before leaving to run FatWire, which provided online content management software, in 2007.

Although Kaseya and CA are in the same business, it's not likely that Gupta will be butting heads with his old employer, he said, as CA focuses more on larger global firms.

Gupta, who has kept a low profile in the IT community since FatWire was sold to Oracle Corp. in 2011, said he started working with Insight Venture Partners last fall as the two parties began looking for a new company to invest in with the plan that he would take over as chief executive.

Manhattan-based Insight has raised $7.6 billion for its funds in its 18 years of operation, and has made investments in tech darlings such as Twitter and Tumblr. Most recently, the firm raised a $2.57 billion private equity fund to focus on global software and Internet companies.

Despite Kaseya's footprint abroad, Gupta said he plans to stay in the United States because 60 percent of the company's sales are here. Since stepping in as chief executive, Gupta has been nomadic -- last week, he visited seven Kaseya offices across the U.S., and his travels continue this week in Europe.

But leaving Long Island could become reality for the new CEO as Kaseya does not have an office in New York State.

"It's sometimes easier for one person to move," Gupta said, "than a whole number of people to move."